


Hold Me

by total_theatre_nerd



Series: Light in the Darkness [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, CC Compliant, Cursed Child, F/M, Future Fic, M/M, Malfoy Family Feels, hpcc, malfoy-potter family feels, scorbus as dads, so many malfoy feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2020-04-11 21:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 56,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19118254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/total_theatre_nerd/pseuds/total_theatre_nerd
Summary: They have a daughter. A family. They live in a house filled with smiles and laughter.But when dark forces start to rise out of the shadows this all begins to crumble.They need to find some way to save it.Whatever it takes.Scorpius and Albus as parents because there aren't enough of those!





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> This a sequel to my Nightmares fic and the one shots I wrote following that. You don't have to have read them for this to make sense but I think to get a handle on the way I write these characters and what they went through you should check them out!

When Albus stepped into James’s kitchen he hadn’t expected to see his daughter sitting at the table sniffling, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” he asked, voice laced with concern. As soon as she realised he was there she let out a shout, jumping down from her chair and racing over to him. Albus knelt down so she could leap into his arms and wrap her hands around his neck.

“Do you want to tell him what happened?” James asked, his voice strict but not harsh.

Aurora burrowed her face further into Albus’s chest, murmuring something that was muffled by the fabric.

“You need to speak up Aurora,” Albus prodded, gently prying her away so he could look into her eyes. 

“I didn’t do anything wrong Daddy!” she exclaimed, a pout forming on her face. Albus could imagine how that would escalate as she got older, morphing into crossed arms, stamping feet and slamming doors. But for now, there was only the pout and watery eyes.

“Aurora, come on now. It’s okay,” Albus soothed, still not knowing what had happened, but knowing that if it had been anything really serious then James would have called him at work.

“I don’t want to be in trouble! It wasn’t my fault!”

Sensing that she wasn’t going to be forthcoming about the events that had occurred, James’s voice piped in to explain.

“She was outside playing with Mia, and Evan was supervising them on the training brooms. She pushed him off of his. Luckily, they weren’t too high up. There weren’t any broken bones or serious injuries, but he was pretty shaken.”

“No! Daddy, no! I didn’t push him, I didn’t!” Aurora cried, pulling on Albus’s sleeve to turn his focus back to her.

Albus, who had long ago learnt how to mask his emotions, held back a frown. Aurora had never been violent before, not beyond playfighting. But to push her cousin off his broom and cause him to fall, when she knew he could get hurt? It didn’t sound like his little sweetheart at all.

“Remember what Papa told you. You need to take responsibility for everything you do. Good and bad,” Albus stated, hoping she would own up to what she had done.

“I would take res.. pona… ibily… if I had done it, but I didn’t push him Daddy!”

Albus silently cooed at her trying to pronounce the word. Scorpius had been reading to her since the very first night they had brought her home, and she definitely had a better vocabulary than most other children her age. But every so often they’d come across a word she hadn’t mastered yet, and Albus felt the same burst of pride every time she learnt to perfect it. He’d have to add responsibility to the list of words she had to work on.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened then, hmm?” Albus suggested, straightening up and crossing the few steps to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down. Aurora took a step forward then hesitated, probably still scared that she was going to get into trouble. He and Scorpius tried not to be strict, controlling parents. They gave Aurora a lot more freedom than they had been given as children, but they still disciplined her when she needed it. The biggest thing for them, as they discussed as the adoption was being finalised, was to make her feel like she could come to them with anything. Any problem she had or thought she was feeling. They wanted her to feel comfortable coming to them for guidance or comfort. They had both had strained relationships with their fathers growing up, with Draco pulling away when Astoria died and Harry not being able to understand Albus. They wanted their daughter to never feel that way. And so, they truthfully answered every question she came to them with, wiped her tears when she was hurt and told her it was okay to cry, explained to her why some people were mean to them as they walked through the streets. 

Albus patted his knee gently, shooting a soft smile to his daughter. She reached up to wipe away the tears from her eyes and scrambled over, pulling herself onto his knee and elbowing him in the stomach during the process. Albus held in a grimace as she made herself comfortable, eyes darting across to James as he took the seat opposite them. They made eye contact and James just gave a small shrug, raising one eyebrow. He didn’t know what she was going to say.

“We were practicing our flying, but then Evan is so much bigger than me and Mia, and he started showing off. He was flying really high and doing flips like the ones Papa does. He came back down to us and I told him I wanted to do that too. But he just laughed at me and said I was too little. And I just felt myself get angry, I was angry Daddy! He was laughing at me and I thought ‘I wish he would just fall off his broom’ and then he did! He just fell! I didn’t push him though I promise!”

She was looking up at him with pleading eyes, gripping tightly onto the sleeve of his jumper. Albus reached out and smoothed her hair, indicating to her that he wasn’t mad.

“Evan said that you pushed him. Are you sure that you didn’t touch him at all?” James asked softly, trying not to make it sound like an accusation. “You won’t get into trouble if you did, we just need to know the truth.”

“No Jamesy!” she exclaimed, using the nickname that had been around since she had learnt to talk, wiggling around to look at him. “I promise you I didn’t push him. He just didn’t want to tell you he fell off his broom all on his own cause he’s silly!”

“Aurora,” Albus said, making his daughter’s eyes turn back to him. She grabbed on to his jumper sleeves with her two little hands, fisting the material in them. Albus looked into her eyes. He believed her. It might seem foolish to say that, but she didn’t lie to him or Scorpius. Or if she tried, she was just so terribly bad at it from lack of practice that it was easy to tell. She didn’t look like she was lying now.

“You said you were angry and then you wished for him to fall off his broom and he did,” Albus repeated.

“Yes Daddy,” she asserted, nodding her head vigorously.

“Has anything like that happened before, sweetheart? You’ve wished for something to happen and then it just did?”

Aurora’s brow furrowed slightly as a look of concentration overtook her face.

“Once I was sitting in my bed and my book was on the floor, and I wished that it would just fly into my hands and then it was there,” she replied.

Albus nodded, letting out a small noise of acknowledgment, not interrupting her but prompting her to go on.

“Oh! The other night you and Papa had put me to bed and I wished that I could just have one more story, and the light came on!”

She looked a little sheepish as she told him that, but Albus tried to give a reassuring smile even as he felt a tightness start to develop in his chest.

“Anything else angel?” he asked. She thought for a moment before shaking her head.

“Thank you for telling me,” Albus replied, noting the smile that stretched over her face at this praise. It was something they always said to her when she spoke to them about things, to try and encourage her to do it more.

As she curled into him for a hug Albus looked up at James, who had a similar look of surprise and curiosity in his eyes. What she had described sounded a lot like wandless magic. But considering the fact that she didn’t even know how to do any spells with a wand, it seemed like a massive conclusion to jump to.

Albus knew that the tightness he felt in his chest was anxiety. Even his dad, one of the greatest wizards who had ever lived, couldn’t do wandless magic. He had never heard of anyone doing it accidentally. And definitely not without years and years of intense practice. How could it be that his little girl could do it when she had never even picked up a wand?

With a few more encouraging words and promises that she wasn’t in trouble, Aurora happily trotted out to join her cousins in the other room. Albus ran a hand over his face, feeling it shaking.

He felt a hand fall firmly on his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t panic,” James said, probably noticing how skittish he had become.

“James… how is this possible? This isn’t just accidental magic when her emotions become overwhelming. This is... this is…”

“Controlled wandless magic. I know Albus. I can check with people at work, but I don’t think this has ever been heard of before in someone so young. I mean, she’s still years and years away from getting her wand.”

James had followed in his father’s footsteps and become an Auror. He had limited excursions in the field and spent most of his time working on spells and curses from the safety of the ministry building. He didn’t want to risk his life when he had his wife and children to think of. Albus has never wanted to follow that career, had always known he needed to steer well clear of anything that even remotely linked him to his dad. His job at the creature sanctuary was perfect for him, and he had never once regretted chasing his dream. Although, the contacts he had made through caring for magical creatures were not going to be of much use here, which was why he was relieved at the reputation and pull James had at the ministry.

“What do you think this means?” Albus asked his brother.

“I think this means she’s going to be an extremely powerful witch.”

Albus sighed, closing his eyes and nodding in what felt a bit like defeat. Aurora didn’t need anything else making her a target. She was already a Malfoy and a Potter – drawing ire from those both sides of the war who still harboured anger. And especially from those who were less than thrilled at the way the families had been linked. Albus remembered back to when he was a boy, still young and fresh at Hogwarts with his whole future ahead of him. Draco had warned him then, what it might be like for the two of them. He had shrugged it off at the time, and when it was only him and Scorpius they could deal with the hurled insults and dangerous looks. But when Aurora had been brought into their family things had changed. They would do anything to keep her from harm, to stop her from hearing any of those harsh words. They tried to shield her from the horrors and judgement and cruelty of the world, and made sure her life was filled with smiles and happiness and love. They would do anything for their daughter.

Albus crossed the kitchen and stood leaning in the doorway, watching Aurora run around giggling as Evan chased her.

“Do you want to tell Dad?” James asked, moving to stand behind him, a force of strength at his back.

“Not yet. See what you can find out first.”

“Okay Albus. But I think you should talk to him.”

“About what?”

“About her parents. If we are to understand how she has this power we need to know where she comes from, what her lineage is.”

Albus felt anguished and defensive all at once. He wanted to stumble away from James, scream about how Aurora was his daughter. That him and Scorpius were her parents and that it didn’t matter who gave birth to her. But he knew James was right. He didn’t know much about the state Aurora had been found in. Only that she was severely malnourished, almost hypothermic, and cried when any kind of magic was used on her. She had been tiny when his dad had found her on that raid; barely big enough to stretch the length of Albus’s forearm.

His dad had taken her straight to St Mungo’s where they tested her for curses and healed the ailments that she had. It hadn’t been planned that Albus and Scorpius would take her, but one visit was all it took for them to fall hopelessly in love. The first time Albus had held her he had been struck by how delicate and fragile she was. She had already suffered so much in her short life, and Albus knew that he couldn’t let her go into the foster system. He knew that he and Scorpius could take her, and that they could give her so much love. They loved each other in an incandescent, all-encompassing way. And they had always wanted children to share that love with.

Many long nights of talking and negotiating took place, proving to the child protection officers that although they were both only 23 they would be suitable parents. That they could provide a nurturing, caring environment and raise this little girl with stability and affection. It had taken so long for them to decide. Albus remembered the nights he would lie with Scorpius cradled in his arms, praying that the people on the panel would look past any prejudices they may have and grant them their wish. And finally, it happened.

Albus had never asked about the parents after that, only remembers his dad bringing it up once just after they had taken Aurora home. They didn’t know much about them – they were an enigma of smoke. Perhaps he didn’t want to know the true details of what horrors had been afflicted upon his little girl. Perhaps he just had no interest in discovering anything about her real parents. But James was right. His dad had worked every angle of that case until there had been nowhere else to look. They had hit brick wall after brick wall, every lead turning to dust. But any information about them he would know.

“If you want, I could start teaching her. Nothing dangerous, maybe a couple of stunning spells, some protective ones. It might help her control it, give her a way to harness her power but meld it into something that’s not going to be a threat to others, or to herself.”

James was right. Evan could have been seriously injured falling off his broom, and who knows what else she was capable of. Turning a light on was one thing, but what is she was then able to set something on fire? Uncontrolled power left to fester and grow was dangerous. Soon it could be strong enough to overtake her.

“Would you? That would be… that would take so much worry off my shoulders,” Albus replied, turning round and giving his brother a quick hug. No matter how their relationship had been when they were children, they had moved past it long ago as they grew from boys into men. Now, Albus felt like he was as close to him as he was to Lily, and he could always count on them to be there for anything that he needed. The comfort and support that Albus received from his siblings was only surmounted by Scorpius’s.

“Just try to be subtle, and keep it between us for now. If this got out…” Albus trailed off, not wanting to go there even in his thoughts.

“Don’t worry Albus. I’ll be discreet. You can trust me, and everything will be okay.”

James’s words sounded like a promise. And Albus let himself believe them.

\-----

Scorpius was working late, an occurrence that was not uncommon. He often stayed home in the morning whilst Albus went into work, spending a few hours with Aurora before dropping her at one of the many babysitters she had. They were careful to spread out the schedule so that neither Draco nor Harry and Ginny would feel like they were spending less time with her, and sometimes she got to go to Teddy’s or James’s to play with the other kids. Albus would pick her up late afternoon, make her dinner and then get her ready for bed. Sometimes Scorpius would be home for dinner, sometimes he would be home to read Aurora her stories, but sometimes he wouldn’t be home until Albus had already crawled into bed. As his responsibilities increased at the hospital he often ended up working more and being waylaid, not returning home until hours after expected. Albus would never begrudge him that, he understood that emergencies happened, and Scorpius couldn’t control many things about his patients. But tonight he wished that his husband had been there with him as he went about Aurora’s bedtime routine.

As he sat at the side of the bath rubbing shampoo in her hair there was no sign of the tears that had graced her face earlier that day. After telling her she was going to get to see James more and practice actual magic she had been beside herself with excitement, jumping up and down and asking when they would start. She was so young, so full of joy and the excitement of life. Albus wanted her to stay that way for as long as possible.

She splashed around as the rubber duck that Scorpius had charmed swam around her in the water, ducking its head under the surface every so often and shaking it when it came back up. Every time Aurora gave a little giggle.

Once she was washed they sat on her bed, Albus up against the wall with Aurora in between his spread legs. He sang to her as he brushed the tangles from her hair and styled it into two neat plaits. He knew he could do it by magic, but these moments with his daughter were some of the most wonderful, and he wouldn’t give them up for anything. If he had a bad day at work, or was annoyed and angry, he could always count on his little bundle of starlight to brighten up his world again.

He tucked her into bed and picked up the book she had chosen. She loved the muggle books that Hermione would buy her, especially ones which talked about magic. This one about training dragons was one of her favourites, and Albus couldn’t help but wonder if that had something to do with him and his job. And so he read to her, his voice carrying her on an adventure even as she lay in bed with a sleepy smile. Albus didn’t take his eyes off of her until she was asleep.

Without Aurora’s light and energy to distract him, Albus found himself getting lost in his thoughts and worries. So he did what he would always do when he was feeling anxious – clean. When he was like this he always did most of it without magic, the way he had done when he was a child before he was allowed to do magic at home. It had been a coping mechanism for him then and had followed him into adulthood. He started with the kitchen, doing the dishes from that night’s dinner and giving all the worktops and table a good clean. He moved onto the living room, tidying everything away and dusting the surfaces, using a vacuuming spell to get rid of all the crumbs on the floor. By that point it was after ten o’clock, and Scorpius still wasn’t home. So he cleaned both of the bathrooms as well.

The house was still silent once he had finished. He creaked open Aurora’s bedroom door to check she was still sleeping soundly, before heading to his bedroom and changing into his pyjamas. He hesitated at the side of the bed, deciding that he didn’t want to be in it without Scorpius. So he trudged downstairs and lay on the sofa, summoning a blanket and a recently published article on the breeding of occamys to occupy his time. He waved his wand and the flames flickered in the fireplace, casting a warm glow to the room. He wriggled until he got comfy, and started reading.

 

The sound of the door closing jostled him awake, and he scrambled to sit up as he heard Scorpius’s keys land on the table by the door. He must have seen the light from the fire because a few seconds later he was standing in the doorway, jacket half-way off his shoulders and his light pink hat still on his head. Albus was relieved to see him.

“Hello,” Scorpius said with a smile, tossing his jacket onto an armchair as he passed and sitting down on the sofa beside Albus.

It was a testament to how well they knew each other that Scorpius could tell there was something wrong after only a heartbeat of looking into Albus’s eyes. The easy smile fell off his face.

“What’s wrong?”

Albus didn’t say anything in reply, just reached up and pulled Scorpius’s hat off, running a hand through his hair and trying to smooth it where it was sticking up.

“Do you think we’ve been foolish?” he asked, running his hand from Scorpius’s hair down his cheek, along his jaw then down to his collar bone, and down his arm all the way to his hand that was lying on his knee. Scorpius intertwined their fingers before raising them to his mouth, giving Albus’s knuckle a soft kiss.

“Oh Albus, we’re always foolish. You’re going to need to be more specific.”

“Were we foolish to take Aurora? She could’ve had a normal life with someone else. Anyone else but us.”

“Albus…” Scorpius whispered, the fondness from moments before replaced with sadness. “What’s brought this on?”

Albus just let out a shuddery breath, moving himself so he was wrapped around his husband, almost sitting in his lap. Scorpius let go of his hand and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, letting Albus nuzzle into his chest.

“We have so much baggage,” Albus started, drawing comfort from the way Scorpius’s hand moved slowly up and down over his back.

“Our names will always be paired with whispers. Our faces will always draw out the sneers and insults. She could’ve been happier with someone else. Someone without the fame and sordid history connected to us. Have we ruined her?”

“Of course not,” Scorpius replied vehemently, the conviction strong in his voice. “Can’t you see how happy she is? We’ve done a wonderful job raising her. She’s smart and kind and sticks to her convictions. Even now I can picture the fire and defiance she’s going to have as she grows up. We did that Albus. We helped to mould her into something beautiful and strong. She has a loving home, she is always surrounded by family. She doesn’t even know the meaning of the word lonely. What more could anyone else give her?”

Albus knew he must sound irrational. But what really scared him wasn’t the fact that Aurora seemed to be able to do wandless magic, it wasn’t even the fear that she would accidentally hurt herself. It was the unease he felt about the knowledge getting out. A child of this age with this kind of power? It was unheard of. It was unnatural. He feared the murmurs of dark magic that might surface, the whispers about the Malfoys beginning anew with more fervour and strength. Rumours that had never died down after the war, despite everything Draco did to prove he had changed and the fact that Scorpius was one of the kindest souls to ever walk the earth. All these people needed was an excuse to latch on to, then the family would be crucified once more.

Albus took a deep breath and started to explain. He told Scorpius everything, the discovery of Aurora’s power, James offering to teach her and promising to find out everything he could about wandless magic from his work. He told him his fears and concerns: that these whispers would create ripples that would turn into waves, waves that would crash into them and destroy everything they had. That Aurora would be hurt because of them.

“Oh Albus,” Scorpius repeated, pulling him closer and tightening his grip.

“We don’t know that would happen. Besides, we don’t know why Aurora has this power. Maybe she comes from two really strong, pure-blood lines. Maybe there are previous examples hidden throughout history. A genetic explanation is highly probable. Maybe it’s like curses that skip generations, and it’ll turn out that if we look back at her families there will be examples of great power. You can understand why they would never report it, how it could be kept secret. It might have just manifested early in her, for a huge number of reasons. You don’t need to jump to the worst situation you can possibly imagine. And you know that us Malfoys can take care of ourselves.”

Scorpius had the innate ability to sound completely logical and reasoned, no matter what he was saying. Perhaps it was the tone of his voice, or the confidence he held in his own beliefs. Whilst Albus’s mind always flew to the horrors that could happen Scorpius always tried to stay away from that, veering into the positives that he could think off. Albus didn’t know how he did it, after everything he had faced in his life. He was just inherently good. He shone. Whenever Albus found himself falling into the abyss Scorpius would always be there to catch his hand and halt his descent, pulling him back into the light.

“You’re a Malfoy-Potter now,” Albus muttered in reply, smiling at the little jolt of Scorpius’s chest as he breathed out a small laugh.

“Well, both the Malfoys and Potters can definitely take care of themselves, so I am going to have no problem whatsoever.”

They lapsed into silence, and after a moment Albus scrambled to sit up, reaching out to cup Scorpius’s face.

“We’ll be okay? She’ll be okay?” he whispered, searching Scorpius’s eyes for even a hint of apprehension. He found only love.

“Yes,” Scorpius replied, softly but with a staggering belief. He lent forward, resting his forehead against Albus’s and lifting his hands to lace around Albus’s neck. Albus felt Scorpius’s breath on his lips, but neither of them made any move to connect them in a kiss. They just sat like that, Albus soaking up Scorpius’s strength. His love.


	2. 2

“Papa, no! You’re not doing it right!”

Scorpius smirked, looking across at Aurora.

“I’m doing it exactly the way you showed me,” he said with a little laugh, fondness filling him as Aurora gave an annoyed huff and rolled her eyes, a trait she had definitely picked up from Albus.

“No, watch again,” she instructed, leaping up from the armchair she had been lounging on and moving to stand in front of him.

“So, it’s two steps,” she started, stepping onto her right foot and shuffling forward. Scorpius copied.

“And then it’s three claps and you lift your hands above your head and turn around.”

Scorpius had a day off work and was spending it at home with his daughter. He couldn’t think of a better way to fill his time. She had recently become engrossed in dancing, and no-one had escaped her choreography attempts and then harsh judgment as she watched the performances of her masterpieces. Scorpius had been a spectator up until now, having previously watched Albus and Lily and even his dad dancing around. They all did it happily - the glee from Aurora infectious, her loud cheers and clapping and compliments more than enough to fill them with the same joy she felt.

Scorpius had missed out until today, but he was finally getting a chance to do it. She had insisted that it was called the fairy dance and so Scorpius had to wear a pair of the fluttering fairy wings that Lily had bought as a gift for her last birthday. Scorpius found that they interfered a little with his movement but would never have dreamt of taking them off. If Aurora wanted him to be a dancing fairy, then a dancing fairy he would be.

What he hadn’t expected was how demanding she became. He was certain he was doing the exact steps she had showed him, and yet here he was on his 4th attempt and he still wasn’t good enough.

“You need to make sure you lift your arms really high Papa, right above your head!” she exclaimed as she watched him again.

“I think you’re just being too fussy. I’m a wonderful dancer!” Scorpius declared, shimmying about in a way that he would never have heard the end of if James had seen him.

“Papa!” Aurora giggled, holding her hand over her stomach as she let out a loud laugh. The smile on Scorpius’s face got even wider. “Whoever told you that was lying.”

Scorpius was torn being laughing at her assessment of his dancing skills and scolding her for the mean comment. But she wasn’t trying to be rude, she was simply telling her truth. And he couldn’t fault her for that. Before he could figure out the correct response he heard a voice from the doorway.

“Well, I’ve told him that before.”

Scorpius hadn’t even heard his dad come in, but he was very happy to see him. He always missed spending quality time with his dad, often he was so busy at the hospital that their visits were brief, restricted to drop-offs. He hadn’t had a meal with him in weeks. Scorpius vowed he would do better, the constant worry for his dad always niggling away at him. He doubted it would ever go away. He knew Albus and Aurora ate with him at least once a week, but Scorpius had just seemed to be missing them lately due to emergencies at the hospital. At least Draco got to spend time with his family, but Scorpius missed him. That’s why he had invited him here today, so they could spend the day together. Just them and Aurora.

Merlin, Scorpius needed it badly. Work was stressful, losing patients was always hard, and having his family time dwindle was not what he had signed up for. He reached up to rub at his temple, feeling a headache coming on. He needed to slow down, or he was going to burn out.

He watched Aurora as she greeted Draco the way she always did, with a scream of “Grandpa Draco!”, a run towards him and a leap into his arms. This was exactly what he needed. A day where the smile barely left his face.

“Please come and show Papa what good dancing looks like,” Aurora pleaded, grabbing onto Draco’s hand and pulling him into the middle of the room.

Scorpius couldn’t help but be a little affronted that Aurora didn’t think much of his dancing, he had always thought of himself as quite good. But the ballroom-like dancing Scorpius had been perfecting since he was little was fairly different to this jumping around that Aurora was doing. There wasn’t much grace or elegance to it, and that was probably where Scorpius’s downfall came from. He liked the fluid movements, the feeling like you’re floating on air. Maybe he would have to teach Aurora some of that. 

“How about we show him together?” Draco suggested, and Aurora’s face lit up at the idea. She nodded enthusiastically, almost tripping over her own feet to position herself beside him.

Scorpius flopped down into the armchair Aurora had been in a few minutes before, more than happy to watch them both.

Before they could get started Aurora let out a gasp, throwing her arms out to the side as if to halt everyone.

“Wait you need the wings! We’re doing the fairy dance!” Aurora shouted, and she raced over to Scorpius to take them from him. As he manoeuvred out of them he glanced over to his dad who was looking across at them with such adoration. Scorpius supposed it was the same look he got on his face when he watched Albus with Aurora.

He could just imagine the faces of those people who still thought Draco Malfoy was a heartless, cruel Death Eater. If they could see him now, dancing around with pink and gold fairy wings on, matching with his granddaughter and perfecting every move, they would see how he was the furthest from that you could possibly be.

Scorpius cheered when they finished, relishing in the way Aurora glowed from the praise.

“You were so good sweetheart!” he beamed, getting up from his chair and crossing the room, crouching down and pulling her into a tight hug.

“And Grandpa too!” she said, obviously worried that he wouldn’t get the appreciation that she thought he deserved.

“Yes, and Grandpa too,” Scorpius chuckled, standing so he was eye to eye with his dad.

“You’ve been practicing,” Scorpius said with a smile, feeling a deep surge of love towards his dad.

Scorpius was so glad that Aurora had such a loving family, an environment to grow up in that was such a far cry from the one he had. Sure, Scorpius had his mum and dad, and the love they had for him could have moved mountains, but he had never had the warmth of a grandfather, or the chance to play with his cousins. He wouldn’t change anything about his own childhood, but he was also elated that Aurora could be surrounded by so many people who loved her. She’d never have the doubts that Scorpius used to have; doubts that the handful of people who loved him would all be gone, and he would live in a world where he had no-one.

“She had me doing it every day she was at mine the past couple of weeks, and it’s not hard to get to grips with. She’s a wonderful teacher,” Draco explained, reaching down to ruffle Aurora’s hair as he did so. She squealed and swatted at his hands, murmuring about how no-one but Daddy was allowed to touch her hair.

 “Now, all that dancing must have made you hungry. What do you want to eat?” Scorpius asked.

“Can we have pancakes?” she exclaimed after a short moment of thinking.

“Of course we can!”

They relocated to the kitchen, Scorpius collecting everything they needed from the cupboards, pulling out bowls and a whisk and sieve, and placing every item neatly on the table. He approached baking the same way he approached potions - setting everything out in a similar, meticulous way.

Draco was helping Aurora into her apron which was a teal colour with a pattern of snitches on it. She absolutely adored it, as it matched Albus’s one which had the words ‘Baby, I’m a catch’ plastered on it with a golden snitch right in the centre.

Once she was wearing it she ran over to Scorpius’s with his, a simple, red and white checked one.

“Thank you Aurora,” he said gratefully.

“You’re welcome Papa,” Aurora responded with a beaming smile, before turning to look across at Draco, her nose crinkling in a way that Scorpius had learnt to associate with her thinking. It was adorable.

“You can wear Daddy’s,” she decided, grabbing it from the hook and handing it over Draco.

Scorpius sniggered as he turned towards the fridge, reaching for the butter which was at the back of the shelf.

With all the ingredients and equipment set out on the table in order of when they would be used, Scorpius was ready to start. His mum had loved baking and had taught Scorpius how to do it the muggle way. It was a lot more complicated and took a lot longer than doing it with magic did, but that is what she relished about it. It was time where she wasn’t just wallowing, time she could spend with her son. Scorpius has been too young at the time to understand how stifling it must have been for her, spending all those years in the manor. Of course she loved anything that would take up her time and give her something to do. Especially if she could share it with him.

Scorpius had fond memories of spending hours upon hours in their kitchen, they must have baked almost everything imaginable. And then, when she had become too sick to leave her bed, Scorpius and Draco would do it together, bringing her up a bit of whatever they made. Scorpius realised now that she rarely ate it, but she smiled all the same and always told him how wonderful his creations were. It had stopped when she died. Scorpius hadn’t baked again until he started it with Aurora, hoping to embellish her life with some kind of tradition related to his mum.

Aurora had been very enthusiastic right from the very start. She was eager to try and do everything, which usually ended up with quite a mess. Scorpius couldn’t remember being that bad himself, but his dad might disagree with that statement.  

Scorpius handed Aurora the egg and apprehensively stood back to watch. She had yet to master the complicated art of egg cracking.

He winced slightly as the crack tore through the room, watching as more shell than egg entered the bowl.

“Your mum always used to let you crack them, but she’d magic out the shell pieces when you weren’t looking,” Draco chuckled fondly.

This was the first time he had joined them for their baking, usually it was just the two of them, although they had managed to enlist Albus’s help a few times. Scorpius was glad of how it could evoke such memories in him too.

“Astoria time!” Aurora shouted, basically just dropping the bag of sugar she had been holding. Thankfully it landed still standing, but a big cloud of it puffed out the top covering her in white. Her clothes were definitely going to need a good wash.

‘Astoria time’ was something Scorpius and Albus had started early on, when Aurora was far too little to understand. But they kept it going throughout her early years, and now she knew that it was something that happened every time somebody mentioned Scorpius’s mum. They may have lost her, but Scorpius didn’t want Aurora growing up not knowing anything about her. Astoria had been the source of all the light in the Malfoy house before she had died, and Scorpius wanted her name to be associated with happiness again, instead of sorrow.

It had taken a long time. Once he and his dad had started talking about her again it was years before any conversation about her didn’t end in tears. Time hadn’t completely healed the hole that had been left in his heart, but being surrounded by love and happiness had helped to morph it into something more than just emptiness. The pain had dulled, and he now made the effort to remember all the good things and all the moments of joy they had spent together. He knew his mum would have wanted it that way.

So ‘Astoria time’ was a way to tell Aurora about her grandma. To give her stories and memories, so that even though she had never met her she would never doubt how important, kind and loving she had been.

“Astoria loved to bake,” Draco started, smiling fondly at Aurora’s wide eyes and clasped hands, eager to soak up every bit of knowledge she could. Scorpius had talked to her many times about baking with his mum, but hearing it from Draco would bring something different to it.

“And she was good?”

“She was incredible! The first time she ever came over to manor she brought a cake with her, and she talked to our house elf for ages about the recipe, sharing baking techniques.”

Scorpius treasured each story about his mum as much as Aurora did. Every single one highlighted her kind-heartedness and compassion.

“Not only did her creations taste good, but she always decorated them too. She had cakes with roses all over them, cookies with faces, pancakes in whatever shape you asked her for. I remember she even made a dragon once. And she did it all without magic!”

“Woah, can we make dragon pancakes?” Aurora asked, her voice laced with awe and wonder.

“We can try sweetheart, but I don’t think we’ll be good enough for that,” Scorpius replied, hating to disappoint but knowing his own skills fell a bit further from those that his mum had.

“Why don’t we try something simpler. How about hearts?” Draco suggested.

Aurora jumped on that idea eagerly, and Scorpius thought they actually turned out pretty good.

“Maybe we should leave some for Daddy, it would cheer him up,” Scorpius said once they had all eaten their fill, setting a few of the heart-shaped pancakes aside.

“Daddy’s sad?” Aurora asked with a frown, her fingers automatically moving to pick at a small hole in her jumper, something she did when she was anxious.

“Oh no he’s not sad sweetheart,” Scorpius was quick to reassure, crouching down so he was level with her.

“He’ll just be disappointed that he missed out on all the fun we had today,” he said, thinking quickly of an excuse she would believe.

“Maybe you could just remind him that you love him,” he suggested, already thinking of how Albus would light up.

“Can we write I love you on the pancakes?” Aurora asked, her previous apprehension replaced with an eagerness to think of ideas that would make Albus smile.

“What a magnificent idea Aurora!” Scorpius exclaimed, earning a delighted clap from her as her suggestion was met with such praise.

“I’m also going to draw him a picture! Or maybe even two pictures!” she declared, and Scorpius stood up from his crouch as she hurried past him and out the door, probably rushing upstairs to get some paper and pencils.

It warmed Scorpius’s heart how earnestly she had decided she would do everything she could think of to make her Daddy feel better. She truly was kind, and through watching her Scorpius had started to appreciate his own kindness more.

“You’ve raised such a wonderful little girl,” Draco chimed, heading over to the table to help Scorpius sort out the mess that had been created. They worked together for a few moments in silence, Scorpius quickly lettering the words Aurora had suggested onto the pancakes.

“She would’ve been proud of you. You know that, right?” Draco asked, breaking the stillness that had fallen over them. Scorpius couldn’t hold in the grin that spread over his face, the one that appeared along with the tightness of his chest whenever his dad made such a comment.

“I know.”

“And the way you’re making her part of Aurora’s life…” Draco trailed off, Scorpius heard the catch in his voice that indicated the lump in your throat when you were about to cry.

“I know Dad,” Scorpius said, trying to ward off the tears. They had done so well to not cry today.

“What’s this about Albus then?” Draco asked, probably deciding to change the subject before the tears could fall. Scorpius knew he wouldn’t buy the story he had sold to Aurora.

“He said something strange to me the other day,” Scorpius started, trying to think about the best way to explain it.  

“Isn’t Albus always strange? Isn’t that one of the reasons you love him so much?” Draco chuckled.

“It wasn’t that kind of strange, it was… worrying,” Scorpius admitted, choosing his words carefully.

Apparently sensing the significance of what Scorpius was about to say Draco stopped what he was doing, moving to pull out a chair and sit down at the table. Scorpius copied him, running a hand through his hair as he took his seat.

“He asked me if I thought Aurora would have been better with someone else. He says we have too much history, that giving her our names is just going to bring her trouble.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Draco scoffed, his hands coming down harshly onto the table.  

“I know, and I told him so. But you know Albus… this idea is not going to leave his head easily.”

“You know that’s not true Scorpius,” Draco insisted, leaning forward and not breaking eye contact, as if he was trying to force his conviction across the table. But Scorpius did know. It wasn’t him that needed convincing.

“ _I_ know. But for some reason he’s started to doubt it,” Scorpius replied with a sigh. It seemed as if Albus’s lack of self-worth was still clinging on tight, even now. How he wished it wasn’t so. How he wished Albus could see himself the way others did.

“Are you asking for advice?”

Scorpius shook his head.

“No, I guess I’m asking for a favour. Could you talk to him? You, more than anyone else, understands the feeling. You’ve been worried about me my whole life. But I’m proud to be a Malfoy now, because I’m proud of who we are. I am proud of who I am. And Aurora is going to continue on this Malfoy legacy, the one that you and I have built.”

“I can talk to him,” Draco agreed, “but I don’t know what I’ll be able to say that you haven’t said already.”

Scorpius sighed, trying to think of how to explain this complicated part of his husband.

“Sometimes, I think he still doesn’t let himself 100% believe me when I say things like that. He knows how deeply I love him, how wonderful I think he is. It might be subconsciously, but I think he believes I would say these things even if they weren’t true, just to make him happy.”

Scorpius paused, sighing heavily. Albus had never believed he was worth the love he was given, and despite the years he had spent trying to convince him otherwise, Scorpius still hadn’t found a way to get rid of all his self-doubt. He knew it was a part of Albus, and he knew it would never go away. But it still gave him a knot in his stomach when he thought of how there were times when he couldn’t help his husband.

“But it’s different with you. He loves you, but he also respects you. He looks up to you. You know how much of a role you played as a second father figure to him, when he was going through all the Slytherin stuff. He knew he could be himself with you in a way he’d never let himself be with his own dad. But he doesn’t expect you to do anything in your power to stop him being sad, the way he does with me. If you tell him, I think another piece of him will start to believe it.”

A part of Scorpius hated admitting this, even though he knew it was true. But the other part of him knew that there were just some things that he couldn’t do for Albus by himself. But the thing was, he didn’t have to. He was surrounded by other family members who could sometimes provide things that he couldn’t. He may be the one who loved Albus the most, but that didn’t mean he was the best person for every situation. Scorpius had spent years and years with Albus, and throughout that journey had come to understand him more than he ever thought possible. Sometimes what he needed was whispered praise in his ears, sometimes he needed to shout and rant and cry angry tears, sometimes he needed a hug from his daughter or his mother, and sometimes he needed an unbiased view which he didn’t believe he could get from Scorpius. And that was okay. Loving someone isn’t about being able to solve every one of their problems by yourself; it is about identifying the issue and knowing exactly what, or who, they need.

“I wish he could see himself through my eyes. I wish he could see how remarkable he really is,” Scorpius finished with a sigh, feeling tears start to build up in his eyes. He screwed them shut, willing them away.  

“Hey,” his dad said softly, reaching across the table and grabbing onto Scorpius’s hands, giving him a quick squeeze.

“He knows that you think that. But sometimes it’s hard to love yourself even when you know someone else does. I was the same, with your mother. Sometimes the loathing you feel for yourself is so strong not even a love that burns that bright can completely destroy it,” Draco declared, a brief look of sorrow passing his face before he composed himself. Draco knew more than anyone to not dwell on the past for any length of time, especially the bad parts.

“I wish I could do more,” Scorpius confessed, his voice breaking slightly as his emotions started to get the better of him.

“You just have to keep being there for him, Scorpius. That is enough. He appreciates you and what you do more than you’ll ever know. Trust me on that.”

Scorpius nodded, fixing a small smile on his face.

“No one else could’ve raised her better. I believe that with all my heart. And soon enough he’ll see it too,” Draco said, tightening his hands around his son’s before pulling away, scraping his chair back and standing up.

“Now, let’s go see what she’s up to. Okay?”

Scorpius knew his question was loaded, encompassing all of what they had just talked about.

“Okay,” he replied, nodding determinedly and rising too. These conversations he had with his dad could always make him feel better. They had missed out on so much when he was growing up, but they held nothing back now. Scorpius appreciated it more than words could say. And he knew that his dad relished it too. There was no problem too big or worry too small that his dad wouldn’t be able to fix. And this was what he was proud of – the way his dad completely turned his life around and converted the Malfoy name from something Scorpius was ashamed of to something he was proud of.

\-----

When Albus trudged through the door that evening Aurora bounded up to him, barely giving him a chance to pull off his dirt-covered boots and jacket before pushing the drawings into his hands. Scorpius watched Albus melt from the pure sweetness of what she had drawn. She had shown him earlier, the picture of the three of them together and the words ‘You’re the best Daddy in the whole world’ etched above it. The other piece of paper had a whole load of creatures on it, and Albus sat down with her at the table as he ate his pancakes, so she could explain to him what each one was and why she had chosen it.

Albus had grabbed onto Scorpius’s hand as he went to turn away after placing the plate down in front of him. Scorpius knew the soppy grin that Albus was beaming at him was mirrored on his own face.

“Thank you,” Albus mouthed, rubbing his thumb along the back of Scorpius’s hand before letting go and turning his full attention back to their daughter.

That night Scorpius and Albus read to her together, their hands lying intertwined between them the whole time.

After she was asleep Albus pulled him towards their bedroom, and Scorpius found himself pushed against the door as soon as it was closed. But this wasn’t harsh or wild, it wasn’t a fumble of limbs and flying clothes and panting as they fought over who would be in charge. Albus kissed him with all that passion but in the softest way, like he was delicate and someone worth worshipping. Scorpius adored it when Albus was like this. It was truly a way for them to show their love and appreciation and admiration of each other.

Albus moved his lips slowly to kiss just below Scorpius’s ear.

“What brought on this?” Scorpius asked in a voice that ended in a bit of a squeak as Albus moved to his collarbone.

Albus halted his progression and pulled away, his hands reaching out to cup Scorpius’s face.

“I love you. And I don’t tell you enough how kind and incredible you are,” he said, his voice almost a whisper as he tenderly stroked his thumb across Scorpius’s smile.

“You tell me every day,” Scorpius murmured back in a soft voice.

“It’s still not enough,” Albus declared, joining their lips back together and making Scorpius’s knees go weak from the intensity of it.

Scorpius’s hands flew up to grab onto Albus’s hips, scrambling to pulling them closer together even though there was no more room to do so.

Albus manoeuvred them skilfully towards the bed, not breaking the kiss apart from to pull Scorpius’s top off.

They crashed together onto the mattress, hands roaming all over each other in a slow and tender way.

After so many years they knew each other’s bodies as well as they knew their own, but that didn’t mean that it had become boring. It was never boring. Scorpius knew that things would never become mundane between them. They had too much devotion, too much love for each other for them not to feel total bliss when they were together. If anything, the way that Albus knew exactly where to kiss to cause the tingle down his spine, exactly the way to move to bring him pleasure, turned him on even more.

Scorpius lost himself in it. The only sounds in the room were soft gasps ghosting over each other’s lips, and declarations of love whispered into each other’s ears. It was slow but intense, Albus’s eyes taking in every part of him almost greedily. It was passion and it was love. The love Scorpius felt was so powerful it almost brought tears to his eyes. The devotion could be felt with every touch and every breath, waves of it crashing over him. Scorpius felt like he could drown in it. His head fell back as he gasped in pleasure, and he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think of this so far, I really appreciate any comments/constructive criticism!   
> Thank you so much for reading! Not sure when the next chapter will be up, I'm going to be travelling so might not be for over two weeks but I'll do my best. Hope you'll all stick around and read it when it comes :)


	3. 3

Harry was tired. He lifted his glasses from his face and reached up to pinch at his nose, already feeling the headache coming on. He closed his eyes and let out a groan, banishing the letter from his sight but not from his mind. He was getting too old for this.

This wasn’t the first letter of this kind he had received, but the last one had been months ago, and he had thought that it had come to an end. He should’ve known better. What he didn’t understand was why these blood purists kept hounding him. There wasn’t even such a thing as a pure-blood anymore; family secrets and years passing by ensuring that there probably wasn’t one true pure-blood family left. Harry couldn’t say he minded. Basing such high revere to those of a certain type was a notion that he was glad had been left in the past. For most people anyway. There were still a few, a very vocal few, that seemed to be against all that the world was now for. He didn’t know how large this was, couldn’t seem to find any kind of trace of an underground pure-blood supremacist uprising. But just because he couldn’t find any information didn’t mean it wasn’t there, slinking in the shadows.

The letter started off exactly like the others: you have made this world impure, names have joined that should never have been joined. But this time it was different, Harry couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it seemed more articulate than usual, with more anger simmering behind the words. It ended with: you have taken what doesn’t belong to you, but you won’t keep it for long.

Being Harry Potter meant the threats against you were constant, but there was a screening process that was meant to make sure none of them reached him until they had been fact-checked, investigated and deemed a significant threat. They always came to Harry’s desk in a folder, written in a report by poor Wes whose job it was to read the threats and find if any of them had the potential to bring him actual harm. Usually they were just penned by an angry witch or wizard who hid behind the anonymity of the parchment, no real threat at all.

But this felt different. First of all, it had managed to reach his desk, had been sitting innocuously on the top of a small pile of letters when he had walked in that morning. Second, it felt as if the writer had escalated since the last one. And third, it had ended with a sentence that sounded to Harry like a real, immediate threat. But he didn’t understand. What did he have that didn’t belong to him? He knew that his aurors had carried out a few raids in the last week, seizing numerous dark artefacts from a number of locations. Could it be one of those items? Something with high sentimental value perhaps? Or a powerful dark magic ability that they were unaware of?

It was times like these that Harry regretted bringing Fieldwake on as Joint Head of Magical Law Enforcement. It was needed (Harry had become too old, although he would never admit that out loud to anyone except Ginny), but it meant that there were lots of pieces of information that he didn’t know. He got the reports, but it wasn’t the same as being out there in the field, being on the scene, questioning suspects. And there were a lot of things that didn’t make it into the reports. His step back from field work had been the best decision, but it didn’t mean that he had to like the fact that he was more often than not confined to the building, to his office. He was still called out occasionally, but there was rarely a situation that his aurors couldn’t handle without him. It was one of the things Harry was proudest of – the upheaval of the auror training programme. (His kids came first, obviously). He had completely reshuffled the whole thing which meant that new aurors were now better prepared, more confident, and field injuries and deaths had reduced dramatically.

“Good morning,” Avery greeted cheerfully as she walked into the room, practically singing the words.

She took one glance at Harry’s wearied look and dropped the smile. Harry appreciated that about her – she was a bright and exuberant woman, but she knew when it was time for business. She was around James’s age, just over a year older, but she hadn’t gone to Hogwarts. When asked she said that her family had schooled her abroad but didn’t offer more information. Harry didn’t pry, he could tell when somebody didn’t want to talk and never pushed it, because he was often on that side of the conversation and knew exactly what it felt like to have people prying into your personal life. She had worked for him for just over three years now; she was hard-working, very intelligent, and a person he enjoyed having around. He had offered more than once to recommend her for the auror training, so she could become more than just an administrative assistant (although Harry already felt like she was much more), but she had refused every time saying that she was happy to be here with him.

“What’s happened?” she queried, closing the door behind her and advancing into the office, falling into the chair across from Harry’s desk.

“Another letter came today. I don’t understand how they are getting it to reach me directly,” Harry explained, trying to keep the irritation and defeat out of his voice. This wasn’t the way he had wanted his day to go. He was going to come in this morning, get on top of his reports, go home for lunch with Ginny, and spend the afternoon cooking for Lily coming round with her (still quite new) boyfriend. This hadn’t been on his agenda.

He handed the letter over and watched her eyes darting across the page, taking in the words with a slight frown but with no surprise. That was another thing Harry admired – she didn’t seem to be shocked by anything.

Once she finished reading she sat back in the chair, reaching up for the pen she always had tucked behind her ear (a much more efficient writing utensil than a quill, she would say. Harry definitely agreed) and started twisting it in her hand, thinking. Harry placed his glasses back on his nose and leant forward in his chair.

“Perhaps they use some sort of cloaking or transformation spell where it doesn’t show its true nature until you, and only you, touch it?” she suggested.

Harry nodded, at once latching on to her idea. It made sense.  

“The previous times it happened Wes told you he never recalled seeing such letters,” Avery pointed out, and Harry could see the logic behind this hypothesis. He should have thought of it himself.

“What would I do without you and your mind?” Harry joked, quickly writing out a message to Wes to get him to look into this and see if he could find anything. They had come up blank before but who knew, maybe whoever had written it left something behind this time.

She laughed as she handed him back the letter, always being modest about herself and her capabilities. Harry tied the two pieces of parchment together and sent it off, trying not to worry. After all, nothing had come from any of the threats before.

“Did you find anything from those files you asked me for last week? About the baby girl? Do you need me to look into anything for you?”

Harry had requested the files on Aurora’s case as soon as Albus had approached him and told him what was going on. Harry had been surprised, and a bit scared if he was being honest, about the power that she must have inside of her. He was glad James was looking into it in his department and taking the time to teach her some things so she could keep herself safe. Harry had promised Albus he would go over everything he had about the case again, looking to see if they had missed anything that could even hint at who her parents were. Harry knew it must be hard for Albus and Scorpius, trying to find the people who did such horrific things to their baby, people who had a tie to her no matter how quickly it had been cut off. But it was incredibly important that they find out the families she came from, her ancestry could hold answers.

Harry usually talked through every case with Avery, trusting her judgement and truly welcoming her input. But besides asking her to retrieve the files for him he had kept this to himself. It was too important, and Albus had begged him not to let anyone else know. Not even the Granger-Weasleys knew anything, and that’s how Harry knew that Albus was taking this incredibly seriously. He didn’t want this getting out; Harry didn’t either. If anyone knew then Aurora’s safety could be compromised, and Harry was not going to let that happen.

“No Avery, thanks but I’m good with that. Could you chase up Fieldwake for those raid reports, please? And ask that he makes sure they are fully complete before he sends them to me,” he asked, already turning to shuffle through the papers on his desk.

“Your son adopted the girl from that case, didn’t he? Did something happen?” Avery asked, causing Harry’s hands to stop immediately. It wasn’t a secret that Albus and Scorpius adopted, but Aurora’s name was not in the case file (they had named her once the adoption was approved) so he was surprised that she knew.

She stood from the chair, a piece of parchment already in her hand, her pen scribbling away writing notes of what he had asked her to do. She had a small smile on her face but was looking down at the words she was writing, seemingly not that interested in the answer. The tension that had filled Harry for a second bled away as the irrational fear of her discovering what was happening evaporated. Even if she knew he was looking into Aurora’s case she didn’t know why, would never be able to guess why. And besides, the fact that it was about his granddaughter surely meant that it wasn’t strange for him to be requesting the files.

“I just thought it was time to revisit the case, see if the years since I had last looked at it brought any knowledge that would help me see it in a different light,” he proclaimed, and Avery nodded at the answer.

“You want to see if you can solve it before you retire,” she declared, not questioning, but speaking as if it was a truth.

“How did you know I was thinking about it?”

He hadn’t told anyone but Ginny yet.

“I know you Harry. I see the light slowly extinguishing from your eyes. Being here, it doesn’t bring you joy anymore. And you should think about it. You deserve to retire happily and spend time with your family. You’ve done so much for the wizarding world. In some ways you’ve lived your life so far for them. It’s time you lived for you.”

He had been thinking of retiring for a while, and he wasn’t at all surprised that she had realised. But what he wouldn’t tell her was that he felt that if he left, and something bad then happened, that would be completely his fault. That if he had been there he might have seen something. It might have been arrogant to think that he and he alone could save the world. He knew it not to be true. But he worried all the same. Bar the Delphi incident his children, and now grandchildren, had grown up in a world at peace, with no dark risings or wars or conflict. But Harry knew it was just a matter of time before something else stirred, rising from the shadows to meet them. He thought of the letter that had sat on his desk only minutes before. Maybe it would be whoever was behind that. Harry pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind.

“When did you become so wise?” he chuckled, and Avery smiled brightly at him in response. She tucked the pen back behind her ear, folded the parchment and placed it into her trouser pocket, and then pulled a hair tie off of her wrist, pulling her long, dark hair up into a ponytail. When she did this, she meant business.

“I’ve always been, and you know it,” she joked back good-naturedly.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to endorse you to the woman who runs the auror training programme?” Harry once again offered, knowing that with her drive and incredible mind she would make a great auror.  

“Trying to find me another job so you don’t feel bad leaving me?” Avery smirked, earning an eye roll from Harry at her teasing.

“But really, you don’t need to ask again. I’m perfectly fine here in this ministry building. I prefer not to go out and put myself in danger and use my wand for destruction. It’s not who I am,” she explained with a shrug of her shoulders.

“I understand. You have a daughter, and I know not everyone can go out to the field and risk their lives when they have children who need them,” Harry said, understanding completely where she came from.  

“Yes, she does need me. I can’t let anything happen,” Avery agreed, her voice getting slightly higher and the look washing over her face the way it always did when her daughter was mentioned. She didn’t talk much about her daughter, had only mentioned her a handful of times. Harry knew there must be a story there. A bad one. But she had never given any sense that she wanted to talk about it, so Harry let it be. Perhaps her daughter was sick? Harry remembered the all-encompassing fear that overtook him when James got dragon pox just after his first birthday. It was never an easy thing, to see your child in pain. Harry just hoped that whatever was happening with her daughter worked itself out. He didn’t like the way Avery visibly deflated when they spoke of her.

She was quick to change the subject, asking about his plans for his afternoon off and enquiring whether Lily was still with the boy. Harry affirmed that she was, but he quite liked Noah. He was respectful to Lily, didn’t refer to him as Harry Potter in an awed voice, and didn’t ask him about his scar, Voldemort or the war. They had only met a few times, so Harry still had his protective father front on. He could tell it would soften soon if things kept going the way they were. Harry loved to talk about his children. He was so proud of what each of them had achieved in their lives, the men and woman they had become. Avery never seemed to get annoyed as he rambled about them, perhaps she even enjoyed hearing the stories.

As Avery opened the door she promised she would chase up the reports for him, and Harry insisted that she also took the afternoon off too, which she reluctantly agreed to, her ponytail bouncing as she walked purposefully out of the room. Harry turned to the papers on his desk and sighed. It was time to get on top of things.

\-----

Scorpius was tired. He hadn’t collapsed into bed until around 3am, so exhausted that all he did was vanish his clothes and crawl under the covers, wrapping himself around Albus who burrowed back into him, chasing his touch even in his sleep. It seemed as if his eyes had only just closed when he was woken around seven by Aurora, who was up almost as early as the sun and always eager to start the day. Scorpius didn’t mind, of course, it meant he got to help Albus make breakfast (today was a fruit salad so all he had to do was chop), and it earnt him a kiss on the cheek and a smile Scorpius knew only he got to see. The one that told him how much he was loved without Albus having to utter a word. When he was running on little sleep he was always fine for the first half of the day, but as time ticked on he could feel himself getting more and more tired, having to focus harder to pay attention.

He was only one hour into his shift and he already felt like he could just lie down anywhere and take a nap. But there was work to do. Scorpius wasn’t a stranger to working like this, he could still perform and save lives. He would not put any of his patients in danger. 

The buzz of his alert went off, stopping him in his tracks. He pulled his wand out of its holder and waved it, the words appearing in the air in front of him. He frowned as he read the message, brow furrowing as he dispelled the words with another wave. He was needed in one of the children’s wards, across the other side of the hospital. He stood off to the side to allow a floating gurney to race by with three healers talking urgently. Then he turned on the spot, very grateful in that moment that senior healers were approved to apparate within the hospital. Most people weren’t allowed to, they didn’t want patients just disappearing without being properly discharged, but thankfully they saw that allowing senior healers to get to wherever they were needed in only a second was extremely useful. The magic behind it was all very complicated, Scorpius had discussed it with one of his colleagues one night when they were having drinks, and it was something to do with the individual’s magical signature. It was fascinating.

Scorpius hurried to the room where he was needed, already hearing panicked raised voices. Julian wasn’t a bad child, not at all. But he scared easily, especially when there wasn’t someone he could communicate with. Scorpius had first seen Julian about a year ago. In under a minute he decided that talking to his mum who would then sign what he was saying was not going to work. The little four-year-old was clinging to his mum’s arm, making it difficult for her to sign. And Scorpius could see the fear in her eyes, and the way her hands shook with the movements. He had gone home that night and started learning sign language. He had worked for years in the hospital by that point, and he knew that being able to communicate with a child directly was so important in how they felt when they were in the hospital. It had taken him a while, long nights staying up studying signs instead of medical procedures, but it was worth it the next time Julian had been admitted and the smile that brightened his face when Scorpius had started to sign to him.

Now he was always the healer they would call to see him. Scorpius was trying to push that more people should learn the language, but the healers were swamped as it was, it was slow going and quite frankly, maybe impossible. But Scorpius was more than happy to see to the little boy.

Scorpius walked into the room and immediately ushered all the other healers out. Julian was curled up on the bed and crying, his mum standing to the side and rubbing his back.

“It was a bad one today,” she quavered, and Scorpius could feel the hopelessness. “They’re getting worse again.”

Julian suffered from seizures, and the cures and medications they tried all seemed to work for a few months before becoming ineffective. They scanned his brain on every visit, and they noticed a small mass that seemed to grow each time. Scorpius didn’t want to operate, not if they could control it by other means. A brain operation came with so many risks, and was especially challenging in a young child. As long as they could keep finding combinations of potions and muggle medicines that kept the seizures at bay, Scorpius and Julian’s mother were happy to keep travelling down that road.

His mother tapped his back a few times, letting him know that Scorpius was here. Julian looked up at the doorway and, once he saw Scorpius standing there, manoeuvred himself into a sitting position.

Scorpius quickly signed a few questions as he took a few steps closer – where were you when it happened, are you still in pain, is your vision blurry or head spinning? They were the normal questions, and Julian happily signed back to him as Scorpius checked his vitals and temperature. He had to close off his heart when he came to work. Treating kids that were close to his own daughter’s age was difficult, but he knew Julian so well that his carefully built and protected walls crumbled just a little.  

_‘I think we’ll need to look into changing your medication again,’_ Scorpius signed with a smile, trying to appear reassuring. ‘ _And we’ll need to get you to the brain scanning room as soon as it’s free.’_

_‘Can I get ice-cream after?’_ Julian signed back, drawing out a laugh from both Scorpius and his mum.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows and nodded his head over towards where his mum was standing so that he moved his gaze on to her. Scorpius left them as she was signing about how he was not going to get around her rules by going to the healer. To make sure there wasn’t anything else wrong with him Scorpius ordered some blood tests and a full body pain scan, to see if there were any areas that could be just below the pain threshold now but manifest in a short time. He would be back later once the results were in.

Scorpius barely even had time to breathe before he was rushed off to the emergency room to consult on a child who appeared to have been cursed. When he got there he was met by a healer-in-training that he didn’t recall seeing before. She had long, wavy dark hair and looked a bit flustered as she flicked through a chart she had in her hands.

“Hi! Don’t worry, we’ll soon get this sorted out,” Scorpius greeted in a way he hoped was reassuring.

The woman looked up at him as he spoke, and Scorpius saw the panic disappear from her face. She must have realised from his burgundy robes that he was a senior healer.

Scorpius glanced to the little girl who was sitting on the bed, her eyes were swollen shut and Scorpius could tell that all she needed was a simple oculus potion to counteract the conjunctivitis curse. He quickly cast a pain-relief charm over the girl, so she wouldn’t be in pain whilst he spoke to the healer-in-training. This was a teaching moment, and Scorpius never passed up one of those.  

“I’m Scorpius,” he remarked, reaching out a hand to shake hers.

“Yes, I know who you are,” she replied quite bluntly, causing Scorpius’s heart to constrict a little as he picked up on the slight bitterness to her voice. His hand fell limply to his side. Those words – I know who you are – could be said in two different ways. One was like this, harsh and coarse, leaving Scorpius wondering what it was about him that offended them. Was it that he was a Malfoy? Was it that he was bisexual and married to Albus Potter? Either option was equally likely. The other way was much better, when the students would mutter them in a way that was close to awe, the stories of his intelligence and how he became the youngest senior healer in St Mungo’s history making him quite the inspiration.

“Well, what do you think has happened here? How can we go about fixing it?” Scorpius asked, keeping his voice upbeat and smile on his face so as not to show that she had affected him.

“She’s been cursed with the conjunctivitis spell,” the woman answered, and Scorpius tried to catch a look at her name badge, but he couldn’t seem to see it underneath the collar of the robe. He would’ve at least liked to know who it was he was dealing with.

“Yes, and how do we counteract that?”

Scorpius was surprised when she didn’t answer straight away. This was a curse that you learnt about in the first year of training, and if she was on the wards she must have been in at least her third year. She shouldn’t have even had to think about it.

Scorpius liked to think he was patient, but when she just mumbled an ‘I don’t know’ he felt some irritation bubble up from inside of him. He didn’t know if she was being cagey on purpose, because of who he was, or if she just really didn’t know.

He sighed, knowing he was going to have to do the explanation himself. 

“The oculus potion,” he declared, the woman (who still hadn’t told him her name) let out an ‘ohhh’ noise.

“Sorry, I’m coming to the end of a 24-hour rotation and I just need some sleep,” she said, a smile now lighting her face. Scorpius was a bit thrown by her change in mood, but he remembered those long-haul rotations and how irritable and exhausted you would feel at the end of them. He sympathised.

“I’ll take care of her then, how about you go grab something to eat before your next patient,” he suggested, making his way over to the girl. He reached the bed and was just pulling his wand from its holder when he felt a twinge in his arm, the muscles spasming and seizing up, his wand clattering to the floor. Scorpius shook his arm out, opening and closing his hand into a fist and waiting for the sensation to pass. After a few seconds it did, and Scorpius turned round to look for the healer-in-training, but she had already vanished. There was only a young man across the room, his wand out and rolling between his fingers as his gaze watched Scorpius. It was a bit unnerving, but Scorpius was used to being stared at. It was a given considering his Malfoy-blonde hair and the rumours and reputation. Scorpius didn’t have time to worry about how the woman was going to finish her shift, or the man who should not have had his wand out in the ward, or about what had happened to his arm. He was feeling fine now, so he knelt down to pick his wand off the floor and summoned the required potion. It was only then he realised that the girl was here on her own. He alerted security and reception, asking them to message if anyone came asking about a missing girl with dark hair. He knew they would turn up soon.

Scorpius went about the rest of his day as usual, seeing to the live-in patients, assisting in an operation, and consulting on a muggle medicine use for a patient. The muggle medicine integration programme was the thing Scorpius was most proud of in his career. The muggles may not have magic, but they did very well in creating medicines, and the magical community would be fools not to use them. Scorpius had been thinking for a while about how they should also give it the other way – making magical potions available to the muggles. The stature of secrecy wouldn’t have to be broken – there were wizards and witches working in muggle hospitals, and squibs or non-magical parents. There was the opportunity, but many problems. Many people weren’t happy with the idea of sharing their magic, and it was unclear whether magical potions would only work on those with magical blood, as they had never been tested on muggles before. Scorpius was in the process of applying for grants to study this, but rejections had been flowing back almost as quickly as he could send the proposals out. Scorpius was worried about the state their world was in. They may not have been fighting a war, but there was still bigotry and hatred (as he well knew) and a fear or inability to want to change. There were still some healers who refused to use any of the muggle medicine, despite the fact that those that were approved had been rigorously tested and deemed not only safe but highly effective.

It was nearing the end of his shift, and Scorpius could not wait to get home. If no emergencies happened then all he’d need to do was check on Julian and be would be home in time for dinner. He could do with a night of cuddling up to Albus, maybe he would read to him and card his hand through Scorpius’s hair the way he liked it. That would be the perfect way to relax.

Scorpius’s arm twinged again, and he stopped for a second, allowing the pain to pass before rubbing his temples to try and dispel the headache that had slowly crept up on him during the day. Pain potions can make you drowsy, so Scorpius never took them when he was on shift, but he had taken a muggle pill. It hadn’t helped though.

He started walking again, but all of a sudden the pain from his arm intensified and shot out, spreading through his whole body so in an instant it felt like he was burning. Scorpius’s first thought was to look around for someone who was hitting him with the cruciatus, because that was the level of intense pain he felt. He thought he glanced a figure out of the corner of his eye, but his vision was blurring, and he couldn’t tell if it was actually a person. He couldn’t hear his own screams but he knew he was making them as he fell to his knees, his hand coming up to claw at his arm where the pain was most intense. He thought then of Albus, because of course he did. The last thing he saw were a pair of red blobs that were probably shoes coming closer and closer towards him. Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground.


	4. 4

It had been years since Draco had run down the corridors of St Mungo’s. He had forgotten how similar they all looked, forgotten how it made his heart race with anxiety as he turned one corner and then the next. At the start of her illness, Astoria had been brought in every time she collapsed. He would never forget the fear every time he would receive an owl, or floo call, or fire message, or patronus. He had stopped counting when she had stopped crying at every admission and started asking when she could leave and return home.

This place, it brought so many memories back to the surface. Feelings that he had repressed for a long, long time. No-one could ever truly understand it unless they had watched someone they loved deteriorate in front of their own eyes.

They had stopped coming to the hospital before Scorpius had been born. Astoria wanted a home birth despite all the potential complications, and Draco could never deny her anything. He was glad, in a way, that they had never come back here near the end. That way Scorpius had no negative associations with this place, and that allowed him to flourish in his career as a healer here. There were other hospitals, but none as big, varied and innovative as St Mungo’s. Draco had never been to visit him at work. Scorpius had never asked, and Draco had never offered, and that was that. Scorpius probably understood.

Draco slowed down to a walk as he rounded the corner towards the reception. His breath was laboured; he would never understand why the floo connections and apparition enabled points were so far away from the main reception. He wasn’t getting any younger, and running up four flights of stairs was not as easy as it used to be.

He heard Albus before he saw him.

“Look, I’ve been here for ten minutes already and you’ve yet to tell me where my husband is!” he shouted, his hand slamming down onto the counter. The young man sitting behind it didn’t even look perplexed, Draco supposed he was used to disgruntled and enraged family members.

“Sir, I have already told you that I am waiting to hear from my colleague and once I know which department he is in I will tell you,” he replied, his calm and upbeat tone the complete opposite of Albus’s.

“How can you not know where he is? He’s a healer here! Scorpius Malfoy-Potter,” Albus responded with a growl. “Check again.”

“I know who he is. And I’m afraid that doesn’t help.”

Albus let out a frustrated groan, his hands reaching up to pull on his hair as he spun away from the desk. Draco hurried over, worried that if he didn’t do something soon the receptionist was going to get hexed and Albus kicked out.

“Albus,” Draco said as he reached him, his voice slightly on the harsh side to try and pull him out of wherever he had fallen to in his mind. He often did that, Draco had learnt. Usually a word or touch from Scorpius would be enough to bring him back to the real world, but the fact that he wasn’t here, and Albus didn’t know what was wrong or where he was, must have only added to the fear.

The message Draco had received from the hospital said so little. He assumed Albus would have gotten the same, as they were listed as Scorpius’s next of kin and emergency contacts. The letter had only three sentences on the parchment.

_Scorpius Malfoy-Potter has been admitted to St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Department: unknown. Please make your way to the hospital as soon as possible._

It had no information about what had happened; no information about what condition he was in. Draco was terrified. Absolutely terrified. But he had been through this before. As he watched Albus he couldn’t help but picture the younger version of himself there, going through the exact same actions when he had received the first news about Astoria. Only back then people had still been afraid of him. Even raising his voice slightly was enough to make somebody cower away in fear. He had learnt that to get anywhere with the people of the hospital you had to be respectful, you had to be polite. They were doing their jobs and they were doing the best they could to help you. Sometimes things were just out of their control.

“Draco! Thank Merlin you’re here. They won’t tell me anything!” Albus exclaimed, close to hysteria.

“It’s okay. Just breathe. Try and calm down,” he said, trying to keep his own voice calm even though he felt anything but. He reached out and grabbed onto Albus’s arms, trying not to grip too hard. The worry that was etched across Albus’s face once again took him back in time, and for a second it was like he was staring into the eyes of his younger self.

“How can I stay calm when I don’t know where he is Draco?!”

But Draco didn’t need to find the words to reply because at that moment a young woman stepped through the doors and headed straight towards them.

“You must be Albus,” she said as she reached them, extending out a hand. Albus shook it politely but Draco could tell he just wanted her to get on with it and tell him where Scorpius was and if he was okay.

“I’ve heard so much about you! Scorpius talks about you all the time, it’s almost like I know you already,” she continued, and Draco could tell that her chirpiness was getting on Albus’s nerves. He looked about ready to explode again.

Before that could happen he cut in.

“Hi… Hailey,” he begun, catching the name from her badge. “Look, we haven’t been told anything about what happened. Do you think you could fill us in as we head to where my son is?”

She looked slightly taken aback for only a second, but the big smile wasn’t off her face for long.

“Oh sure. No problem. If you just follow me,” she replied in an upbeat tone, turning on her heel and heading back to the corridor she came from. “I’ll take you to him straight away.”

Albus shot him an immensely thankful look and they both hurried after her.

Draco kept his hand pressed onto Albus’s shoulder as they navigated the corridors. His heart was still beating erratically, and he could feel Albus fidgeting under his touch as well.

“Scorpius is okay. He will be unconscious when you go in but that was for the tests we were running, and he should wake up very soon,” Hailey explained.

“What happened to him?” Draco asked, once again wondering how he could have ended up in a hospital bed when he was meant to be working. Perhaps he had been exposed to some sort of infection or virus?

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you,” she replied, sounding truly regretful that she couldn’t. They came to a stop in front of a room and she turned around to face them.

“Go in and see him, and I will go and find the senior healer for you right away,” she said, hurrying off down the corridor.

Albus entered the room first and instantly gravitated to Scorpius’s side, reaching out for one of his hands and pulling it up to place a kiss on the knuckles.

Draco stood in the doorway. He took a deep breath. Seeing Scorpius like this, lying on the hospital bed, made tears prickle in his eyes. He closed them and took another shaky breath. After a few heartbeats he opened them to find the scene in front of him unchanged, and he fell into the chair on the other side of the bed and focused on watching Scorpius’s chest move up and down with his breathing. 

It wasn’t long before the door opened and a woman walked through. Draco didn’t recognise her but Albus certainly did, as he stiffened as soon as he saw her, his hand tightening around Scorpius’s.

“Hello Albus,” she said kindly, but with slight apprehension.

“Polly,” he replied with a curt nod, “I haven’t seen you since Hogwarts.”

Draco didn’t know the story here, but he could guess that she had been cruel to them both at school. Most of the students had been, to Draco’s dismay. The only thing that had stopped him from worrying about Scorpius every day he had been there was the fact that he had Albus. And there was no other person he would trust to protect and look after his son. It was true then and it was true now.

“I’m sorry that this is how we have to meet again. Scorpius talks about you all the time.”

She was the second person to say that in the past fifteen minutes, but Draco wasn’t surprised in the slightest. He himself had been subject to Scorpius’s rambles about Albus, from the first holiday home after starting at Hogwarts to last week.

“What happened? What’s wrong with him?” Albus asked, and because Draco knew him so well he could see the irritation. He was done with the introduction and small talk. They needed to know.

“Yes, sorry. Scorpius collapsed on his shift and with scans we identified dark magic in his blood.”

Draco felt as if he stopped breathing. That every system in his body shut down for a second before restarting at a relentless pace. It felt as if his heart was pounding against his chest, his lungs not taking in enough breath even as he filled them with air. Collapsed. Dark magic. He had been through this before.

He worried, of course he did, every time Scorpius was ill that he could be afflicted by the same curse his mother had. But he hadn’t truly considered it. Had never really believed that life would be so cruel to make him go through it twice.

A sob tore its way out of Draco. He didn’t even realise he was hyperventilating until Albus’s arms were gripping tightly onto his shoulders, a mirror of the position they had found themselves in at the reception. But this time it was Draco who was spiralling.

It could not be happening. Surely. How much more did he have to suffer? And why was it the people he loved and never him?

“Draco,” Albus’s voice cut through the ringing in his ears. There were tears in his eyes too. Tears that were leaking out and carving tracks down Albus’s face.

So many thoughts were rushing through him. He couldn’t grasp onto one long enough to let it take hold. It was so unfair. Scorpius didn’t deserve this. He was so young. He was so good. He had so much more he could do with his life.

“It’s not Astoria’s curse. Can you hear me? Polly said that they tested for a blood malediction and it came back negative. He doesn’t have it, okay? You need to breathe now.”

Draco sobbed again, hardly daring to believe it. He looked over at Polly who just nodded her head, apologising for the way she had gone about telling them. He must have shut down, the ringing and overwhelming panic drowning out her explanation.

He tried to slow his breathing, taking shaky but deep breaths. He couldn’t even bring himself to feel embarrassed about the way he had reacted. Hearing the words dark magic in relation to Scorpius had been his worst nightmare since he had been born. Of course he was going to jump to that conclusion.

Once he had calmed down he nodded to Albus, wiping the tears from his face and turning back to look at Polly. Albus stayed by his side though, reaching down to hold Scorpius’s hand on this side instead.

“I’m sorry Mr Malfoy. I didn’t think. I knew about the history, but I didn’t… I’m sorry,” she apologised, looking genuinely upset at the distress she had caused. Draco just nodded in reply, unable to find the energy to be angry or to give her anything but that.   

“How about you start again?” Albus suggested, not holding back the annoyance that he obviously felt.

Polly gulped and nodded quickly, wringing her hands in front of her as she started to speak again. Draco reached out to Albus, grabbing onto his forearm. He needed the anchor.

 “When we did our scan it came back positive for dark magic. From his file we saw of the blood malediction that his mother suffered from, and so our next course of action was to take some blood and do our tests on that. They came back negative for a heritable malediction.”

Thank Merlin, Draco thought. Closing his eyes for a second and just letting the relief flow over him.

“However, I have to warn you that we did find traces of another curse.”

And the relief drained away as quickly as it had appeared.

“Another curse?” Albus stammered, his voice strangled. Draco’s grip tightened on his arm at the same time his tightened around Scorpius’s hand.

“We’re not sure what happened but if you just let me…” she walked round to the side of the bed they were at, forcing Albus to pull away and take a step back. She leant down and rolled up the sleeve of Scorpius’s hospital gown. Draco gasped when he saw it.

“If you look here, you will see the contact point of the magic. You’ll also see the veins in the surrounding areas have turned black.”

Draco just stared. The nauseous feeling he had felt earlier came back full force. There was a point just above Scorpius’s elbow which was a dark black and looked almost charred, and radiating out from it were the dark veins, snaking up towards the top of his shoulder.

“What is this?” Draco choked out, leaning forward to get a closer look. He glanced up to Albus who has his hand covering his mouth, apparent shock all over his face.

“I’m afraid we don’t know. No-one here has ever seen anything like it. We know it’s not an inherited blood malediction, and we know that someone must have been able to hit him with the curse at some point during the day. But all our tests can confirm is that it is serious dark magic. It’s already taking over the right arm, and as it spreads it appears to be killing the cells surrounding it. We have our top researchers looking into ways we can stop it or slow it down.”

The tears once again sprung to the forefront. Who would do such a thing? Why would someone do such a thing? Was this something to do with his past? Is it his fault that Scorpius was lying here like this?

“We’re just guessing here, but we think that if we can’t find a way to stop its progression or cure him… well it’ll eventually reach his lung and he’ll have trouble breathing. And then when it reaches his heart…”

Albus and Draco both let out a strangled sob simultaneously, and Albus’s knees gave out, crashing down to the floor despite Draco’s scrambled attempt to keep him standing.

“I promise we’re doing everything we can. We’re running all the tests we can think of. We’re considering every possibility.”

Draco’s thoughts were spinning wildly, he couldn’t focus on one long enough to really make sense of it. He was overwhelmed. From thinking Scorpius had Astoria’s condition, to finding out that he didn’t, to discovering he might die anyway. It was all too much. He was vaguely aware of Albus getting back to his feet, and words being spoken between him and Polly. She left the room, but it still felt like the walls were closing in and space was getting smaller and smaller. He looked down at his hands and saw they were shaking. Albus grabbed on to them and Draco’s eyes darted up to his.

“He doesn’t have Astoria’s curse Draco,” he proclaimed. Gone was the panic and confusion that had been all over him a minute ago. Now all Draco could see was determination. The tears had stopped flowing down his cheeks and there was nothing but resolve in his red-rimmed eyes.

“But he’s still cursed. He still might die,” Draco quavered, wincing at the way his voice whimpered.

“But we have a chance. We have a chance to save him. James is probably the person with the greatest knowledge of curses in the entire wizarding London. We have my dad. We’ll find out what it is, and we’ll save him,” Albus urged, and Draco identified the fight in his voice. He envied him. Envied his hope. But he knew first hand that hope, no matter how strong, was not enough to save those you loved. Hope and love and dedication could not lift a curse.

“Albus…”

“No,” Albus snapped, releasing Draco’s hands and turning to look at Scorpius lying on the bed. Draco’s eyes followed his movements as he reached out gently and brushed Scorpius’s hair back out of his face, a broken breath out the only indication of the turmoil that must have been coursing through him.

“We’re not losing him, you hear me?”

And although he said it in a voice barely above a whisper it sounded like he was almost pleading with Draco, imploring him to feel the same. He lifted his gaze to once again make eye contact.

“It’s not an option. I’m going to fight for him. Will you?”

\-----

Albus had left to go to James’s, tell him what was going on, and bring him and Aurora back here. He hadn’t wanted to leave, but with Draco’s insistence that the sooner they got James here the better, and that Scorpius would want to see both him and Aurora when he woke up, he relented. He hurried out and promised to be back as soon as possible. So Draco was left alone with Scorpius still asleep on the bed. Alone with his own thoughts. His thoughts were never a good thing to be left with. When Scorpius had left for Hogwarts the September after Astoria died, Draco had returned to the manor which seemed colder, the silence of the halls overwhelming. He had spent a lot of time with his thoughts then, and it had taken him so long to pull himself out of the despair he fell into. He vowed he wouldn’t do the same this time. Scorpius needed him. Albus was right. He needed him to fight. They had a chance, and a chance was all they needed. The Potters had some of the best minds, were some of the most determined people he had ever met. If anyone could find a way to save Scorpius it was them.

He heard a groan and sat up straighter in the uncomfortable plastic chair he had been hunched in since Albus had left.

“Hey Scorpius,” he spoke softly, smiling as Scorpius’s eyes fluttered open. Polly had said he was on a strong pain potion, as it was the pain that had caused him to collapse in the first place. Draco was relieved to see no hint of pain on Scorpius’s face, a sign that the potion was working.

“Dad… what happened?” Scorpius grumbled, fumbling around to sit up. Draco reached out and grabbed onto the pillow, manoeuvring it into a comfortable position for him. It was automatic, almost like it hadn’t been years and years since he had last done it for his wife.

“You don’t remember anything?” Draco asked, his nose scrunching in the way it always did when he started to worry.

“I just remember pain. It was so overwhelming.”

Draco frowned, once again wondering what cruel fate had brought this onto his son.

“You collapsed Scorpius,” Draco explained, wondering if it would jog anything in his memory. But his face remained blank.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You’ve…” Draco had to take a pause as his voice broke. “You’ve been cursed.”

“Cursed? Not like… not like mum?” Scorpius stammered, his eyes widening in fear.

“No, no, not like that,” Draco was quick to reassure, swiftly moving to sit on the bed at the side of Scorpius’s leg. Scorpius wasted no time in reaching out to him and wrapping his arms around his shoulders, burying his face into Draco’s neck and letting out a trembling breath.

“Someone cursed you. We don’t know who, or why.”

Draco pulled Scorpius closer as he let him take it in. There were a few more shuddering breaths, but no tears. Not yet.

After a few moments Draco pulled away, smiling sadly at Scorpius as he reached out and rolled up the sleeve, exposing the curse’s effects for him to see.

Scorpius gasped, his hand reaching out to curl around Draco’s forearm.

“The magic is spreading from the point of impact and killing the cells as it goes along,” Draco tried to explain, but it was hard when nobody really knew anything about what was happening. The only thing they could be certain of was that it was not good. Not good at all.

“Wow. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s fascinating,” Scorpius exclaimed, uncurling his hand from Draco and reaching out to trace the dark lines with his finger. 

“Scorpius. This is not fascinating,” Draco snapped. He didn’t mean to be harsh with him, but awe was certainly not the reaction he had been expecting. He knew Scorpius and his passion and fervour for learning, but this was not the situation to be entranced by the magic.

“Dad, this –”

“No, Scorpius. When I realised you were here, I thought…”

“Mum. You thought I had what mum had.”

Draco nodded.

“I thought I was going to have to sit by and watch you die without being able to do anything to stop it.”

It was blunt, but it was the truth. That had been his first thought, followed quickly by the one that he couldn’t go through it again. He wouldn’t survive it the second time.

“Dad…” Scorpius whimpered, his hands moving to grab onto his dad’s. Draco didn’t even try to stop the tears that began to fall, and he didn’t reach up to brush them away. The anguish he felt could not be hidden.

“It’s not that curse, thank Merlin. But this one you have, it’s still dangerous. If it reaches your heart it’s going to kill you. And I won’t sit here and watch you be excited about the fact that you could die,” he asserted, his voice starting off shaky but turning harsh. Sometimes he didn’t understand his son.

It seemed those words really affected Scorpius though, because one moment he was sitting there holding Draco’s hands and the next he was buried in his arms, sobs escaping him. Draco was a bit surprised by the turn of events, but he just cradled him in his arms. He rocked him back and forward gently, like he used to do when he was little and Astoria had a bad day. Scorpius may have his own daughter now but there, in that moment, it felt like he was back to being a little boy again, pulling strength and comfort from his father. 

“I’m sorry Dad,” he choked out in between sobs. Draco just shushed him and continued rocking, the tears falling steadily from his own eyes too.

“I’m sorry. It was easier to focus on the interesting magic than to… than to admit that I am just a little, tiny bit scared.”

Draco knew that every single person reacted differently to news like that. Using his enthusiasm for interesting magic to try and mask his fear was such an utterly Scorpius thing to do. But nothing would be able to keep that terror away for long. Everything was reminding Draco of Astoria today, how could it not. It felt like he was reliving moments of their life all over again, some of the worst of their time together. And here he was having to hold another person he loved in his arms as they sobbed and screamed and moved from panic to anger to dread to hopelessness, around and around in a horrendous cycle. Draco didn’t know how long he sat there, just holding his son. It didn’t matter to him. He let Scorpius cry and cry and cry, throw up from all the crying, and then cry some more. With every wail another part of Draco’s heart shattered.

Eventually his sobs turned to sniffles and his body stopped trembling in Draco’s arms. He gently pushed on Scorpius’s shoulders so he moved from his curled position on his chest to look into his eyes. Draco reached out and wiped away some of the tears that were still falling steadily. Draco wanted him to see the determination as he spoke. Determination that Albus had instilled in him.

“We’re going to do everything we can Scorpius. We’re going to figure this out,” he promised. He just hoped he could keep it.

“I don’t want to die,” Scorpius whispered brokenly, and Draco thought he was going to start sobbing again. He didn’t though, maybe he was just so exhausted that he couldn’t.

“I have so much I want to do. So much to see. So much to live for.”

It broke Draco’s heart. He once again enveloped Scorpius into his arms. He could’ve broken down right there with him, but it was his turn to be strong.

“I know. You’ll live Scorpius, you will. I can’t lose you too.”

He rested his chin on the top of Scorpius’s head, reaching one hand up to stroke at his hair. Scorpius just burrowed further into his embrace.

“We’re going to do everything we can. You know Albus and I won’t stop until we’ve figured out a way to save you,” Draco soothed, trying to blink away the tears as they started to cloud his vision.

“Where is he?” Scorpius asked.

“He didn’t want to leave until you’d woken up, but he went to get James. Aurora is with him and if there is anyone else who could help you it’s him. He built his whole career working with curses and counter-curses,” Draco explained, one hand continuing to run through Scorpius’s hair and the other up and down over his back.

Draco felt it when Scorpius started to calm at even just the mention of his husband.

“How is he?”

Draco wasn’t going to lie.

“He’s… determined. I think he’s not letting himself believe that there’s a chance you could…”

Scorpius tensed again.

“Denial. I know it well,” Draco said, once again being transported back in time in his mind to the moment he found out that he wouldn’t get to grow old with Astoria. It was silent for a moment.

“If I –“

“No. We’re not having this conversation,” Draco barked, surprising himself with the intensity of his voice.

“But Dad –“

“Not yet. Please. Not yet,” Draco pleaded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

“Okay,” Scorpius assured, his voice quiet, almost a whisper.

They sat there for a few moments longer before Scorpius pulled away, falling back against his pillows.

“Which healer is looking after me?” he queried as he reached up to wipe under both eyes and under his chin. The action didn’t help much, his eyes were still red, the dried tear tracks still visible craving paths down his cheeks.

“Polly Chapman,” Draco answered in a causal tone, looking for any hint of resentment Scorpius felt for her. But of course there was none. Scorpius was far too good to resent someone for things they had done as a kid.

 “That’s good. She’s good,” Scorpius nodded, seemingly pleased with the news.

“Albus wasn’t happy to see her,” Draco stated, eliciting a fond little smile from Scorpius, despite everything.

“Well that’s Albus for you. I can understand it. She was quite cruel to him, to us, at Hogwarts. But she’s a great healer,” Scorpius reassured, seemingly understanding Draco’s worries about her without him even having to voice them.

“Does she have any theories yet?” Scorpius then inquired, and Draco could almost feel him start thinking. Now he had calmed down he was seeing his curse as just another case to solve, another kind of magic to understand.

Draco shook his head.

“She didn’t say much other than they had no clue what was going on.”  

Scorpius let out a small ‘hmm’ sound, eyes darting around the room but not finding what he was searching for.

“Get me a piece of parchment. You need to bring me these books and papers,” he instructed, looking up at his dad and clasping his hands together.

“I think you should be resting,” Draco replied with a small frown, wondering if he should ask how much exertion Scorpius should be doing.

“Dad, I can’t just lie here. You know more than anyone how that would make me feel. Whilst I can think, I can be of use. Not to belittle anyone else, but I’ve been researching curses since I first started Hogwarts. If there was anyone who could be of use in figuring out how to save my life, it’s me.”

And just like that Draco knew he wouldn’t be able to deny him anything either.

“You’re right,” he said with a resigned sigh, summoning some parchment and a quill.

“I usually am,” Scorpius retorted with a smile, before he started listing off book after book.

Draco wrote down every title, and it was only a few minutes before the door to the room swung open to reveal Albus standing there. A range of emotions flitted across his face as he saw Scorpius sitting up in bed, awake and a smile on his face. Even though it was obvious he had been crying, and crying hard, the relief of seeing him overpowered that.

Albus strode the few steps from the door to the bed, immediately dropping down and bundling Scorpius into his arms. Scorpius’s own arms flung up and enveloped Albus tightly, his face nuzzling into Albus’s neck. When Scorpius moved his head so he could look at his husband, Albus’s hands then moved to cup Scorpius’s face, thumbs gently stroking away the tears. He then let his forehead fall onto Scorpius’s. Draco could tell they were whispering, soft words spoken onto each other’s lips. But he couldn’t hear what was being said. That was for the best though, he let them have their private moment. Let them just feel their simultaneous relief and grief.

Draco didn’t even realise that James had also entered the room until he walked into his line of sight.

“Albus… can I check him before Mum and Dad come in with Aurora? You don’t want her to see it,” he said softly, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Albus didn’t speak but he slipped off the bed, falling unceremoniously in the chair beside it without letting go of Scorpius’s hand.

They all watched as James lifted up Scorpius’s arm and inspected it, letting out small hmm sounds every so often. He was frowning, and that wasn’t making Draco feel any more confident. His eyes flickered over to Albus, but he wasn’t looking at his brother, his gaze trained on Scorpius’s face, his thumb drawing patterns over the skin of his hand.

“This isn’t something I’ve ever come across before, but the archives in the Curse Department go back generations. I’ll get my whole team on in straight away. There’s got to be something there,” James assured, stepping away from Scorpius and the bed.

“Thank you, James,” Scorpius replied, genuine appreciation in his voice.

They fell into a silence, slightly uneasy as they all failed to think of words to say.

That was broken only a moment later when Harry, Ginny and Aurora appeared at the door.

“Papa!” she exclaimed, racing over and immediately going to climb onto the bed. Albus’s arms flew out and grabbed her before she could leap on top of him, probably worried about causing Scorpius any more pain. She settled into his lap instead, but leant over as far as she could towards Scorpius, she would’ve been falling off if it hadn’t been for Albus’s arms wrapped around her. She stretched out her hand and Scorpius was quick to reach out his own to join them.

“What’s wrong Papa?”

“I’m just a bit sick, that’s all. Don’t worry about me sweetheart.”

She frowned all the same, wriggling about in Albus’s arms. Scorpius nodded at his husband and he removed the restraint from Aurora, and in a flash she was kneeling on the bed beside Scorpius.  

“But you look after sick people,” she pointed out, causing Scorpius to let out a little chuckle.

“I do,” he affirmed, snaking the hand that wasn’t holding onto Aurora’s round her back so she wouldn’t topple backwards off the bed. 

“But now you’re sick? Who looks after you?” she questioned, her free hand reaching up to her jumper to pick at a hole.

“Other healers do sweetheart. And all of you,” Scorpius assured, smiling brightly at his daughter. Draco approved of their decision to not tell Aurora the extent of how sick Scorpius was, or could be. It was a horrible moment, having to explain something like that to someone so young. Draco remembered when he and Astoria had sat down with Scorpius to tell him, although he doubts Scorpius remembers the conversation. He just hopes beyond all measures that his son will not have to go through the same thing with his own child. There was no point in causing her distress when they hadn’t even started looking into a way to save him. They would find it, he knew they would. The other situation was just unthinkable, and Draco was not going to go there in his mind.

“But I can’t help,” Aurora said, nose scrunching and hand moving to clutch at Scorpius’s gown.

Draco noticed how everyone else in the room had gone silent, and they were all watching the exchange, probably with the same thoughts swirling around their minds. 

“Of course you can sweetheart,” Scorpius replied softly, his hand moving from her back to push a lock of hair away from her face and behind her ear.

“Do you know what I need right now more than anything else? A big hug.”

Aurora almost smothered him as she fell into his arms, burrowing herself as much as she could into his embrace. Draco smiled.

The mood had brightened considerably with Aurora in the room. Her enthusiasm and love were contagious.

“Would you like a coffee or a tea Al?” Ginny asked, stepping forward and resting her hand on Albus’s shoulder. He was still sitting in the chair next to Scorpius’s bed, and Draco couldn’t see him moving in the near future. He turned his head up to look at his mum with a smile.

“A coffee would be great Mum,” he replied, and Draco could hear the weariness he tried hard to hide. She moved her hand to caress his hair and his eyes fluttered shut at the contact. He seemed to deflate a little, his shoulders losing their tension. It was incredible what a mother’s love could do.

“Anyone else want anything?” she asked, looking around at everyone who shook their heads or gave her their order. Draco politely declined, but her gaze lingered a little, knowing that he was a big tea drinker. But the taste of the cheap tea here would only serve to take Draco back in time to when he drank so much of it his hands started to shake. No, he was going to stay well clear of it. She nodded to him with a smile, and Draco was sure that if Scorpius’s bed hadn’t been between them she would have reached out to pat him on the shoulder too.

“Aurora darling, why don’t you come help me get these?” she asked, motioning for her to join her near the door. Aurora seemed reluctant, looking up at Scorpius for permission which he quickly gave. Ginny was giving them some time to talk through things with Harry without Aurora there, something which Draco was all for. Maybe his aurors had already found something.

Aurora grabbed Ginny’s hand and they left the room already chatting away about something. Harry took a deep breath and walked closer, stopping just behind where Draco was sitting. They went through the whole thing again, pulling up Scorpius’s sleeve and showing the marks. Draco didn’t know if he was just imaging that the darkness of the veins had progressed further. Harry explained that they were in the process of going through footage from the hospital surveillance spells, hoping to find who had cursed him. That was all they had to go on just now, there were no clues as to who was behind this.

Draco was so caught up in Harry’s talking that he didn’t hear the door open or notice the junior healer from earlier walk in. He only noticed she was there when James shuffled closer to Albus to allow her space.

She didn’t have the same smile from earlier on her face, and Draco felt his stomach drop. Had they discovered something? Surely it would have been Polly who would come in to tell them, considering Hailey had not been allowed to say anything before?

She stood for a moment, looking around at everyone gathered. Then she started talking.

“This curse is fatal.”

Draco scrambled to sit up in his seat, his heart stopping for a second before it started beating erratically. There was something off, something about the hardness to her face and tone that wasn’t at all like she had been before. Draco squinted, looking down to her hands. Before they had always moved animatedly, but now they lay limp at her side.

“In time, it will kill you.”

Draco gasped as he came to the realisation of what was happening, jumping up from the chair and pushing it backwards, not even caring that it bashed into Harry’s shins, ignoring the shout of protest he got for it.

“She’s been imperiused!” he exclaimed, noticing now the slight glossed over tint to her eyes.

“How do you know?” Albus asked frantically, also leaping up from his chair. Draco didn’t have the heart, or time, to tell him how he had spent weeks at Hogwarts pouring over library books stolen from the restricted section, learning everything he could about this particular unforgivable. The others he wasn’t afraid of, they could only hurt him after all. But Imperio had always terrified him, because he knew if it was ever used on him he would probably end up hurting people. Or worse. So he had learnt everything he could about it, including how to recognise if someone had been cursed with it and also how to fight against it. It was the one spell out of all those he knew of that terrified Draco to the point he could feel his hand shaking as he held out his wand.  

Within seconds the four men in the room not confined to a hospital bed were stood in between Scorpius and Hailey, their wands out. A barrier. It was silent for a moment bar the sounds of protest from Scorpius as he wriggled around, probably trying to get a view to the door where she was standing. Draco knew that the others were smart enough to know not to hurt her, she was just a victim in all of this after all, but he held up his other arm anyway to ensure they wouldn’t do anything stupid with the emotions as charged as they were.

“Just let her speak,” Draco said, quickly throwing a glance over his shoulder to check Scorpius was okay before turning back to her.

“If you want the counter-curse you just have to give up one thing. The girl. You don’t deserve her power. She is not yours to keep. You have joined names that should never have been joined and bled impurity into this world. If you don’t let her go then Scorpius will die. You’re scrambling around trying to find a way to save him. You won’t find it. But you have some time, so you can try. When you're starting to get desperate you will receive another message. There will be a location. If you make the right decision you will bring the girl there, and nobody will die.”

The intakes of breath as she mentioned a girl were simultaneous. Everyone in that room knew about Aurora’s magic, but they had all been keeping it quiet. Draco had no clue how anyone could have gotten hold of the information. He trusted the Potters with his life, with Scorpius’s life, and knew that none of them would ever endanger Aurora like that. 

Hailey took in a deep gulp of air, and just like that the curse was lifted. Her eyes were wide and glistening with tears as she reached up a hand to cover her mouth, her head shaking. That was one of the worse things about the curse – you could remember every single thing you did whilst under the influence of it.

Draco didn’t know what to do, the panic and confusion evident in everyone. Albus’s and James’s eyes met, and the next second they bolted from the room, off to find Aurora and check that nothing had happened to her, or see if the caster of the spell was still near, Draco guessed. Harry had reached out to Hailey and was helping her into one of the chairs. Draco’s mind was reeling. What did it mean? Who would send such a message? What kind of dark uprising was making itself known by its demand for one of the most powerful witches of recent generations, even if she was only a child? 

“Dad…” Scorpius’s broken voice brought Draco out of his mind and back to the situation. Tears were once again streaming down his face, pooling at his chin. Draco could not imagine the anguish he was feeling at that moment, knowing that whatever had happened to him was part of some kind of plan to take Aurora.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Draco comforted in a way he hoped wasn’t as manic as he felt. He rushed over to Scorpius’s side and once again wrapped his arms around his son. Scorpius clung on even tighter than before.

“There is no way they are getting her, whoever they are. We can’t…” Scorpius voice broke and Draco reached out to wipe some of the tears off of his face.

“We can’t let them take her. No matter what.”

And Draco knew what that meant. That he was willing to die. That he would not even hesitate before giving up his own life for his daughter to be safe.

Draco wished, the way he always did when he found himself stuck in a hard situation, that Astoria was there beside him. A force of strength by his side, someone to clutch onto and make the world seem less daunting. She had always been better at comforting Scorpius, even when it was near the end. She would have known what to say here. But she was gone. Draco would never have that support again. He was on his own now.

Although, perhaps not really, he thought as Albus flew back into the room with Aurora, followed by a hasty James and Ginny who looked confused and worried. The room was crowded with the Potters. They may not be his family, but they were Scorpius’s. Draco would never have to look after him alone, because all these people crammed in here would also do anything for him. So although the atmosphere in the room was one of shock, panic and confusion due to the declaration they had just been given, Draco could also feel the love. And underlying it a fierce determination, felt to different extents by each person, but there just the same. A determination that they were going to find whoever was behind this, and they were going to pay.  


	5. 5

Aurora had fallen asleep. She was wrapped around Scorpius’s side, one arm and one leg thrown over him. Her breaths came out softly as Scorpius continuously ran his hand through her hair. His other hand was wrapped tightly around Albus’s. The contact settled Albus a little, although he was still jittery. He felt like he should be doing something. James had rushed off to go back to the ministry, Draco and his dad had been tossing theories to one another, waiting for someone from his department to bring them some documents. They had aurors looking into any pure-blood supremist action from the past five years. They were all doing something to help. There were books strewn around the whole room, books that Scorpius has been sifting through until Albus made him stop, noticing the signs that Scorpius was getting a headache. He had offered to help, to read some for him, but Scorpius declined and told him that he didn’t really know what he was looking for and that he would only know when he found it, so it would be pointless for anyone other than him to read anything anyway. So Albus had just sat there. Not doing anything. Useless. He felt Scorpius squeeze his hand and looked up from where he had been staring at his arm. Although the marks were hidden Albus knew they were there, and he couldn’t stop picturing them.

They shared a look. Often they didn’t need more than that. Scorpius could read the feelings crashing around inside him from just his eyes and the look on his face. It came with knowing each other for so long; from being inseparable since they were 11 years old. Albus knew he was so incredibly lucky to have found this love so early on in his life, even if it took him years to realise that’s what it was. But he didn’t want to lose it. Not yet. Not when they still had so much to give each other, so many milestones to surpass. Not when he pictured them growing old together, side by side, hand in hand. Death wasn’t meant to come for either of them yet.

It was like they had a whole conversation like that, no words exchanged, but just from looking into each other’s eyes. Albus wouldn’t have known how to voice what he was feeling, wouldn’t have been able to find the words. But he didn’t need to, not with Scorpius.

He said: I can’t lose you. Without uttering a word.   
Scorpius said: It will be okay. Without making a sound.  
They said: I love you. I love you to the end of time, with all my heart. Without opening their mouths.

Albus sighed, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Since they’d been left in the room alone (Draco and Harry heading to the cafeteria to get some food, Ginny making her way to the lobby to meet Lily who had rushed to get to the hospital as soon as she got the messages) he had been on the verge of a complete breakdown. How could it be that all the happiness he had felt could drain away so quickly? That his family were in danger, and all he could do was sit here and let it happen? Feeling useless wasn’t foreign to him, in fact he had felt it very strongly throughout his whole life. But it had never, ever, been like this.

He couldn’t help his eyes drifting down to his wedding ring. He often twisted it when he was nervous, finding some comfort from the weight of it and feeling the grooves and smoothness. When they had gotten married, Scorpius had performed a shrinking spell on the stone in the protection amulet he had gifted to Albus all those years ago. The metal that had been holding it was remoulded into Albus’s wedding ring, and the black stone was held perfectly in the centre. It was symbolic. But Scorpius also knew that Albus would never take that ring off. So in a way it was to make sure that he would always have that protection. The protection that his mother believed in, the protection that he now believed in.

“Scorp…”

“What is it Albus?” Scorpius asked, his voice soft and thumb drawing patterns on his skin.

“I was just thinking… well you might not like the idea but… the stone in my ring, its protection. I thought perhaps we could take it out, make it into something that Aurora could wear. She…” Albus’s voice broke. “She needs all the protection she can get. And this stone has done well protecting me all these years. It’s time that I passed it on.”

Whether Albus really believed the stone had protective powers was irrelevant. Scorpius believed it. And nothing terrible had happened to him whilst he had been wearing it. Whether that was coincidence or magic wasn’t for Albus to decide.

They both glanced down at the ring, picturing it without the black stone and the etching of runes that covered its surface. It would look strange, it had been a part of Albus for so long. But his daughter needed it more than he did, and he would do anything to protect her.

“Yes Albus, of course. I think that’s a wonderful idea. Did you think I’d be upset?” Scorpius asked softly, his thumb still tracing patterns on the back of Albus’s hand.

“I just didn’t want you to think I was just giving it away without a care. It means so much to you. To us.”

“It does. But you and I both know that protecting Aurora is the most important thing we have to do right now. I would’ve suggested it myself if I had thought of it. Why didn’t I think of it?” he said, and Albus picked up on the berating tone to his voice near the end.

“You’ve been a bit distracted,” he reasoned.

“Yes, I have,” Scorpius frowned. “Thinking about me, thinking about this curse. That’s not what I should be focusing my energy on. I should be focusing on how to save her.”

“Why shouldn’t you try to figure out a way to stop the curse?” Albus responded. Scorpius looked directly into his eyes, looking lost but certain at the same time.

“Because I need Aurora to be safe. Whatever it takes.”

Whatever it takes. Albus identified that look of fire and defiance that Scorpius wore all over his face. He didn’t like seeing it in this context.

“Scorpius…”

Albus was cut off from saying more by loud voices and the door swinging open, Lily rushing in and almost running straight into the chair in her haste to get to Scorpius. Aurora started to stir as Lily began to fuss over Scorpius, muttering things like how dare he scare her like this and he better not even think about dying anytime soon because she has so not done all the sisterly teasing she wants to do. Aurora sat up and rubbed at her eyes, and Lily wasted no time in pulling both of them into a tight hug, squeezing them to her. Albus could see her eyes scrunching up from where he was sitting, and he saw the tears escape from them.

Lily knew she couldn’t say anything with Aurora awake and aware, but settled with a bluntly whispered “Don’t you dare. You hear me?” into Scorpius ear, knowing he would understand completely what she meant: don’t you dare leave us.

Albus hadn’t even noticed Noah until he spoke up.

“Scorpius, I’m so sorry about what’s happened. We came as soon as we read the letter. Let me know if there is anything I can do.” He smiled, but he looked quite nervous and apprehensive. Perhaps because it was his first time meeting Scorpius, or perhaps he didn’t like hospitals. Whatever the reason it seemed to vanish when Scorpius smiled and said thank you, and Lily stepped back and brushed her hand against his.

Albus had only met him a few times, but he seemed to be good for Lily. He made her happy. Albus had always been protective over Lily and who she dates, not because he wants to be a controlling older brother, but because she had been hurt badly in the past by someone who she thought loved her. He just worries about her. Lily would like to think she could take care of herself, but when it comes to matters of the heart he knows that it’s not that easy. But lately she was smiling more than Albus had seen in a long time. And for that reason, Noah was welcomed by the family with dinner invitations and open arms.

They chatted for a while about Lily’s work, Noah’s muggle parents, Ginny’s latest attempt at cooking. It was all so inconsequential. It felt like a waste of time. Albus was torn. He didn’t want to leave Scorpius and Aurora, not for one second, but he wanted to be doing something productive. They were on a time limit here, they didn’t have as long as they wanted and needed to work this out. They had only 9 more hours until they were to get the next message from whoever was behind all this. And what were they doing, really? Scorpius had tried to be helpful, but he didn’t remember much. All he could tell Harry was that the first time he had felt the pain he was helping a student and the only suspicious thing he remembered was a man standing to the side with his wand out. He couldn’t give a good description, had barely given the man a glance before he was back to work. Early 20s, black robes, dark hair, roughly the same height as himself. It wasn’t much of a description to go on. Albus didn’t know what else his dad was doing, what he was getting his aurors to do. He hoped that whatever it was would be useful. They needed to understand who these people are, what their goal is, before they could ever dream of stopping them.

James was their only chance to save Scorpius. Albus was sure of that. But he had thousands of documents, books and diaries in his archives. What were the odds of finding what they needed in the time that they had? Albus wasn’t sure. That uncertainty, the not knowing, the trying to prepare himself for the worst when he could hardly even begin to process that it could happen… it was all he could do to sit there and hold his husband’s hand without screaming, crying or breaking down completely.

Albus had noticed Scorpius’s growing discomfort. The scrunch of his eyes every so often, the not being able to lie still, the way his hand would spasm and his breath would hitch. He subtly increased the delivery of the muggle pain drug the way Polly had shown him, hoping it would ease Scorpius’s burden a little. It seemed to be working, which was why Albus was taken completely off-guard when Scorpius let out a terrifying scream, hands flying up to cradle at his head before his whole body went limp and started spasming.

Albus quickly grabbed Aurora, pulling her off the bed so she wouldn’t get hit by Scorpius’s flying arms. Scorpius’s screams pierced the air and Aurora’s cries joined them in some kind of melody from Albus’s nightmares. Albus’s memories were instantly thrown back to a quidditch pitch, many years ago. He was just as useless now as he was then, even though his hands weren’t bound this time. All he could do was stand and watch.

As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Scorpius’s hands moved again to clutch at his head, distressed whimpers escaping from him.

Albus barely registered his mum pulling Aurora from his arms but a second later he was clinging to Scorpius. He wrapped Scorpius up in his arms, one hand carding through his hair and the other moving steadily up and down his back. It was the same position Albus adopted when Scorpius woke from a nightmare, when he was having a bad day, when he was missing his mum. Scorpius had once joked that it provided optimal comfort. Albus hoped it was doing its job now.

Aurora’s cries had turned into sniffles, Albus could hear his mum’s soft voice and knew she was giving his daughter the comfort that she needed. Scorpius took a few deep breaths before moving his hands to fist Albus’s t-shirt.

“Someone was trying to get into my head,” he stammered in a panicked voice. He was shaking in Albus’s arms.

“They were trying to find something. It was like they were trying to force open every door in my brain, and the more I resisted the more piercing the pain.”

“Does it still hurt?” Albus asked, unable to think about anything else knowing that Scorpius was probably still in pain.

Scorpius nodded.

“It’s lingering, my head feels like its pounding. It’s about 50 times worse than the hangover I had after James’s wedding.”

Albus moved one of his hands to massage the back of Scorpius’s neck, smiling despite himself as he remembered the situation. It didn’t grace his face for long.

“But you can’t just take a potion to fix it this time,” he sighed, noticing Scorpius hunching in on himself, his breaths starting to come out faster.

Albus cupped Scorpius’s face with both hands, using his fingers to gently wipe away the tears that had fallen. Albus’s heart was breaking. Scorpius placed both of his hands flat on Albus’s chest, his eyes fluttering closed as he synced to Albus’s deep breathing, stopping the panic from rising any further.

“It’s going to be okay love,” Albus whispered in a choked voice.

The moment was broken by Polly rushing into the room, eyes darting around at all the people crowded into the room and landing on Albus and Scorpius on the bed.

“Scorpius are you alright? I got an alert that your heart monitor spiked and your heart rate was elevated and erratic. I came as soon as I could.”

Scorpius quickly explained the situation, his exhaustion and pain evident to everyone. He told her about the pain, the feeling of someone trying to get into his memories. Legilimency wasn’t a foreign concept, and he was able to tell when it was being performed on him. He was sure that’s what had happened, but it made no sense. Every account of this practice reported that you had to be looking at a person to be able to enter their mind. Maybe it was an effect of the curse, something that connected Scorpius to the caster so they could perform the spell without that.

“Merlin. This is more complicated than I was hoping. I thought that maybe you and Albus had been left alone and you were…” She glanced down to Aurora. “…cuddling too hard when you should’ve been resting.”

“What could they be looking for?” Lily asked, her brow furrowed.

“Maybe something to do with your work? You do all the muggle medicine stuff, you’re advocating for magical potions to be available to the muggles. If this is a group that sees pure magical blood as superior they would not want any kind of magic being wasted on the muggles,” Ginny suggested, her hand moving rhythmically through Aurora’s hair as she curled into her side.

“I don’t know,” Scorpius replied, uncertainty covering his features. He wasn’t convinced.

“Maybe…” Lily spoke up before trailing off, shooting her brother a heartbroken look. Albus took in a sharp breath.

“Maybe they want to know what you plan to do with Aurora. Whether you’re going to move her to a safe location.”

Albus felt Scorpius flinch as he took in those words, could feel as he deflated and started to curl in on himself. These people had already used him to try and get to Aurora, but now they’re wanting to force their way into his head, to make it so that not even his thoughts or memories were safe.

Noah then spoke up.

“It’s not meant to hurt either. That would give you away, and a lot of the time they wouldn’t want someone to know that they’re taking information from them, not if they want to use it for blackmail or for an ambush or to get ahead of someone in some way. If the person doesn’t know that they know, then they have an advantage.”

It was a good point, and Albus had to wonder why this had caused Scorpius so much pain. He was tired of seeing the man he loved contorting in agony. He ached with the need to help him, to make it stop. Why did this have to happen to Scorpius? Why did these people, whoever they are and whatever their endgame is, choose him? Scorpius was a Malfoy, although married to a Potter he was still a descendent of the Sacred 28. If the goal of this was to do with blood purity it made no sense to hit him with a potentially fatal curse. Nothing about any of this made any sense.

“Okay, well I think the best thing to do is give you the pain potions again,” Polly said, glancing up from the chart in her hand to look at the monitors beeping away and jotting something down.  

“You mean the ones that don’t actually stop the pain but knock me out so I don’t feel the pain?” Scorpius said, trying to smile but just grimacing in an unnerving way. Albus gave his hand a squeeze before stepping away to let Polly closer. He immediately reached out to Aurora who moved to curl into his side, glancing up every few seconds to look at Scorpius on the bed. Albus knew the look, he was certain it had graced his own face this whole time.

Polly affirmed and Scorpius let out a sigh before nodding.

“We’ll give you a small dose, enough to let you sleep for only an hour or so. Hopefully that will be enough to take away that head pain.”

She quickly did whatever she had to do before shooting Albus a sad smile and telling him that she’ll be back to check on Scorpius later.

Albus watched as Scorpius’s body started to relax as the potions started to work. The stress didn’t leave his face though, and when he reached his hand out towards him Albus wasted no time shuffling forward and clasping it in his own.

“What is it Scorp?” he whispered softly, already seeing that he was fighting to stay awake.

“It’s just… I’m scared,” Scorpius breathed out in a soft voice. “I know it was Legilimency, Albus. My dad trained me in occlumency when I was just a boy. I know what it feels like for someone to enter your brain, I should’ve been able to stop them. But this person was powerful enough, or I’m weak enough that they were able to get in.”

He shifted slightly on the bed, his eyes closing for a second before they fluttered back open. Albus held on tighter as his grip started to loosen.

“Maybe my pain lessens my ability to block them, maybe it’s a side effect of the curse. Whatever reason, you can’t discuss where Aurora is going to be around me. I’m compromised. We can’t let them get that information.”

“I don’t think we need to…” But before he could finish the sentence, Scorpius cut in.

“Promise me Albus. Promise me,” he begged, pleading with such an intense look that Albus wouldn’t have been able to deny him anything he asked. He clutched onto Albus’s hands like he was an anchor keeping him grounded.

“I promise.”

“And be here when I wake up?”

“Of course, love. I’ll be here.” Albus didn’t dream of being anywhere else. If he couldn’t do anything to help figure this out, the least he could do was be there to try to make his husband feel a little less alone and afraid.

“Don’t leave…” Scorpius mumbled as he finally closed his eyes and sunk back into the mattress, slipping into sleep easily. Albus reached out to brush the hair out of his face, leaning forward to press a soft kiss on his forehead, exhaling shakily as he pulled away. He smiled as Aurora moved close and did the same, kissing her Papa before turning back to Albus with a trembling lip and tears beginning to fall.

“Come here darling,” he said, crouching down and opening his arms wide. Aurora fell into his arms and he pulled her close, taking in the feel of her hands encircling him and her hair tickling his cheek. He felt a hand drop onto his shoulder, knowing without looking that it was his mum. He heard footsteps and so was prepared when Lily’s hand fell onto his other shoulder too, tightening and then releasing slightly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking a moment. He didn’t know what he would do if his family hadn’t been there, literally holding him together. Those points of contact were all that was keeping Albus from falling apart entirely.

\-------

With Scorpius asleep, Ginny managed to convince Albus to head down to get something to eat. She was more than happy to stay at Scorpius’s side with Aurora, who had begun plaiting Lily’s hair. Noah had left shortly after Scorpius had fallen asleep, giving Lily a quick peck on the cheek and promising he would only be a message away if he needed her. Albus only relented because Draco and Harry were already at the cafeteria, and he wanted to speak to his dad about how the investigation was going without Aurora or Scorpius in the room. But he hadn’t left Scorpius since this had all started. He knew nothing would happen with both his mum and Lily there, the fierceness of the Potter women was not to be matched. But he still felt antsy as soon as the door closed behind him, a feeling of unease sweeping over him.

“Albus, hello,” a woman’s voice greeted cheerily. Albus couldn’t help the frown that appeared and the crinkle in his forehead at the unfamiliar person. It only served to put him more on edge.

“Who are you?” he inquired, his hand inching towards his wand.

“Oh sorry, I forget you don’t know me,” she said with an easy laugh, if she had noticed his defensive stance and edge to his voice she was doing very well to ignore it.

“I’m Avery, I work with your dad. I was just bringing these files to him. Is he in there?” she queried, peering around Albus to the door he had just come out of.

“It’s fine, I’ll take them. I’m going to see him now,” he remarked, holding out his hands to take the pile. He knew he was being short with her, and knew that he should be more polite to an employee of his dad’s that he was meeting for the first time. But he had no patience for that, not at the moment.

“Oh sure, that’s great. I need to get back anyway. There’s so much he wants us to do, so many files we need to read through. You’ll make sure it gets to him yeah? It’s really important.”

Albus scoffed. As if he didn’t understand the importance of things at the moment.

“I will give them to him straight away,” he asserted as she handed it over to him with a smile.

“Thanks Albus! Oh, there’s a nice picture of your husband in there by the way. You’re a lucky man.”

Albus frowned as she turned and strode away, looking down to the files with narrowed eyes. He flicked it open as he headed off down the corridor, his confusion turning to anger as he made his way to the cafeteria.

 

Albus slapped the file onto the table in between his dad and Draco.

“What is this?” Harry asked with a curious tone. He pushed his empty plate away from him and pulled the thick folder forward.  

“This is a file that I was told to deliver to you. It includes all witches and wizards with Death Eater or blood supremacist links.”

Albus took a seat at the table, and Draco immediately pushed his own plate in front of him. He couldn’t eat much, had only managed about half of the portion of pasta he had been given, and he knew Albus wouldn’t be able to stomach much either. But Draco didn’t know when he had last eaten, it certainly wasn’t since they arrived at the hospital hours ago. And even eating a few bites was better than nothing. Albus picked up the fork and pierced a piece of the pasta.

“Right, I don’t get why this makes you angry?” Harry said in a confused manner, obviously not yet following what was happening.

“Why don’t you open it?” Albus suggested in a dead pan voice, making Draco snort. He didn’t know how anyone could make eating pasta look aggressive but Albus somehow managed it.

Harry gingerly reached forward and flipped the file open, to find a picture of the man sitting opposite him. His brow furrowed as he looked back up to his son.

“Albus, you know I have to keep a file on everyone who fought for the Death Eaters during the war. I have to keep Draco in there, or else people will accuse me of being biased. I have to show that I won’t let our friendship distract me from my job, that I will continue to be vigilant. We have to keep an eye on these people. Draco agreed to regular surveillance, he understands why I have to do it.”

“Okay, that reasoning is objectively flawed but I’ll move past it for the moment because I want to know how you’ll justify this.”

Albus aggressively moved Draco’s picture and stack of pages to the side, revealing the profile underneath it.

“Why do you have one on Scorpius?”

He cocked his head and raised his chin, as if daring Harry to explain.

Harry was silent. It was the first time Albus had seen him look like he was floundering for what to say. Albus shook his head and gently put down the fork he had been holding, this calm movement counteracted by the fists he squeezed his hands into immediately after. He finished chewing and swallowed, and Harry looked regretfully at him, opening his voice to make some sort of excuse. But Albus didn’t let him. 

“I can’t believe this. It’s bad enough you still have Draco in there. You know him. He’s… he’s family! Why you think other people gathering information about him is needed I don’t have the slightest clue, because you know more about his life than anyone could ever find out from watching where he goes and who he talks to,” Albus started bitterly, and the fact he wasn’t raising his voice made his indignation all the more intense.

“Listen…” Harry was cut off abruptly, the glare Albus shot him nothing like he had ever seen on his son’s face before.

“But Scorpius? Scorpius?! I don’t even…” Albus took a deep breath, summoning some self-control to not slam his fists down onto the table. He made a conscious effort to unclench his hands, spreading out his fingers before moving to fiddle with his wedding ring.

“He has no links to any organisations. There is no reason for him to be in this file. He has done nothing but good his whole life; he’s worked every minute of every day to prove to people that he is not like those family members from his past. And yet he still gets all those insults and scared looks and the judgement from those who don’t know him. But Dad… you know him. You know him like a son. Fuck, Dad. How could you…”

Albus had to pause to take a deep breath, feeling like he was running out of air. Being angry at his dad wasn’t a new feeling, although it hadn’t been something he had felt for a long time, and it had never been this sharp. It may not have been something that Scorpius talked to others about much, but everyone knew what he had to go through just because of his last name. Draco and Albus had both had to comfort the crying boy over the years as he dealt with act after act of narrow-minded cruelty. They understood how much these things affected Scorpius. That’s why they were both sitting there, eyes narrowed, anger pulsing across the table. Albus didn’t doubt that this wasn’t his dad’s idea. But he allowed it. He was complicit. He probably thought giving in to those who wanted it was easier than kicking up a fuss and precariously tilting the balance of those in favour of him. Albus understood that to be effective at his job he needs people to trust him. But did he have to go so far?

“He’s always thought you didn’t like him, you know. And okay, a lot of that stems from what happened in the other world when you forced us apart and investigated whether he was the son of Voldemort, but even in this world he was always terrified that you would do it again. But we’re married now, we have a child together. Knowing you have people watching him, just in case he turns out evil? It would ruin him.”

Draco reached out to rest his hand on Albus’s arm, forcing him to take another intake of breath. His emotions were all over the place, he felt drained but also like he had all this rage and fury burning inside of him – at his dad, at the people who had hurt Scorpius, at those who dared to threaten his daughter. He couldn’t stop the enraged tears from prickling at his eyes.

“How many more people like this are in this file Dad? Huh? How many innocent people are under suspicion because of their family name, and not because they have actually done something that would warrant that suspicion?”

Harry wouldn’t meet his eyes. Albus wanted him to, wanted him to see the fury and disappointment and hurt he was feeling. The war still caused tension for many people, people like Scorpius who were simply suspected because of their name and nothing else. It made Albus seethe, knowing that those like his husband who were inherently good and kind still had this shadow over them, despite doing everything right, despite doing every single thing they could to show that they were not their family’s past. It hurt to know his dad had been involved in some way. Albus felt more betrayed by him than ever before.

“How many other people in this folder are reformed like Draco is? Watching them in this way is being biased towards those from the war, those who have spent the rest of their lives since becoming better and trying to make up for what they did when they were young. Many of them were forced into it, didn’t have a choice. You know that. It’s… it’s bigotry. And it’s a waste of fucking resources. Maybe if you didn’t waste time and people scurrying around after those who are no threat you would’ve found out about this plan and the people doing it before Scorpius was cursed!”

Harry’s eyes widened as he slumped back in his chair, surprise evident all over his features. Albus almost rolled his eyes. Had he not thought of that before? Did he not realise that these actions would have consequences? Albus had only known about this for 5 minutes and he had noticed the obvious flaws and failings of this work.

“Maybe if you hadn’t had people watching Draco go to buy his silk sheets and fancy tea, or Scorpius coming home to _me_ and his daughter, then he wouldn’t be lying in that hospital bed dying, and maybe you wouldn’t have lost the respect of your son,” Albus snapped, shaking his head once more before rising from his chair.

“Draco, you might want to come up to Scorpius’s room. He had an episode, terrible headache pain that he is certain was caused by a Legilimens. He’s asleep just now, but maybe we should talk it through, see if there’s something we’ve missed.”

And without another word or glance to his father Albus strode from the room, the silence he left behind crackling with tension. At least they didn’t have an audience, no-one else had seemed to notice the blow out happening at the table. The last thing they needed was a fight between Harry Potter and his son being front page news on a gossip magazine or less than reputable newspaper.

“I can’t believe you have him in there either,” Draco remarked, pushing his chair back with a horrible squeaking sound as it scraped across the floor. Harry would have preferred shouting, if he was honest, rather than this bitter disappointment and betrayed tone that both Albus and Draco had adopted.

“He’s right, about all of it. I know he’s right,” Harry replied dejectedly, knowing that he had been wrong about creating a file for Scorpius. About all of it. He should never have let prejudices snake their way into his department. He should have outright refused from the very beginning, and pushed for wizards who had shown reformation for decades of their lives to be struck from the watch list. His son was a better man than he was, Harry had always known that. But he would never have thought that he could have been a better Head of Magical Law Enforcement too.

“I should go after him. I should try and explain. He doesn’t understand the politics of it, he doesn’t understand what I have to do to appease people. If I tell him I didn’t want it...” Harry made to stand too, but Draco shook his head and Harry slowly lowered himself back into his chair.

“No offence Harry, but the last thing he needs right now is you telling him that. I’ll talk to him,” Draco reassured as he pushed both his chair and Albus’s (which had been forcibly pushed back as he stormed away) back underneath the table. He placed both of his hands on the table top, making eye contact with Harry. Harry hunched his shoulders, seemingly wilting a bit under the glare.

“You know, we might be friends, and I might admire you. But you make some really big mistakes, don’t you? If Scorpius dies and it turns out that it was your negligence that allowed this to happen, I’ll never forgive you. And neither will Albus.”

Draco walked away, his brisk steps loud in Harry’s ear despite the buzzing background noise of the cafeteria. He dropped his head into his hands and let out a frustrated little scream. How could he have let his happen? He wanted to go after them, to try and say something, to make Albus understand. But he knew there wasn’t anything he could say right now to make this better. What he needed to do was find out who did this to Scorpius and how to save him. There was no time for arguing with Albus or worrying about how to make things right. That could wait. What he needed to do was make sure that both Scorpius and Aurora were safe. He didn’t want to think about what would happen to Albus if they weren’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I'm happy with the way this is going at the moment, which is why there has been quite big gaps between chapters (sorry!). Please, if you have any feedback/comments/constructive criticism I'd really appreciate it! Perhaps your guesses about what's happening and where the story is going to go next... Just anything really! I always strive to be a better writer and this is the first time I've tried to do a proper plot, and plotting is hard! Thanks so much for reading, any comments would be greatly appreciated!


	6. 6

Scorpius woke to voices. He kept his eyes closed for a moment, wincing as the pain flew back over him. He could feel Albus’s hand in his and he could hear Ginny’s soft voice, things that felt like safety, despite what was going on. It didn’t take long for Albus to notice that he was awake as he shuffled around to try and get comfortable.

“Hey,” Albus whispered in greeting, but the smile he gave was laced with fear and dread. Scorpius looked down at their intertwined hands and had the thought that he hoped Albus would keep holding his hand until this was over.  

Ginny helped him sit up, bringing over a cup of water that Scorpius sipped on. When she took it back she placed her hand on Scorpius’s cheek before moving it to smooth out the top of his hair. Scorpius bit his lip as the tears started to pool in his eyes.

Once he was fully awake, he pulled the hospital gown down from his shoulder; he needed to see how fast the curse was progressing. His breath hitched. The darkness had spread even further, splitting into two lines with one following the path of his collarbone and the other starting to traverse across his chest.    

He felt Albus’s grip on his hand tighten and heard Ginny’s gasp. They knew what it meant. They were running out of time.

“Scorpius…” Ginny started, trailing off when she couldn’t find the words that she wanted to say.

“Where’s my dad? Where’s Aurora?” Scorpius asked, hating how weak he sounded, hating how his voice trembled.

“They’re still in the hospital, not gone far,” Ginny answered.

“Can you get them? Bring them here? I need… I need them to be here,” Scorpius said, his voice cracking.

“Of course,” Ginny said, a look of anguish on her face. Scorpius hated it. He hated how this curse was hurting everyone around him. He was the one with the curse pulsing through his veins, sure. But when he was gone it was the others who would have to carry on without him. Aurora without a parent, Albus without a soulmate, his dad without his son after losing so much already. It wasn’t fair.

Ginny hurried out the door and Scorpius focused on Albus. He was still sitting in the chair beside his bed, his gaze on the blank wall in front of him glazed and unfocused.   

“Albus, look at me,” Scorpius whispered softly, trying to reach him. Even though they were physically connected, he was far away. Albus’s pain was familiar. This was Scorpius waiting by his mum’s bed, watching her get weaker, seeing the life drain out of her as the days went by. Scorpius had never felt more devastated and angry at the world than when he had to watch his mum die. Albus was going through that now. If he could’ve, Scorpius would have done anything for him not to be feeling this. Since they met his whole existence had been for protecting Albus, for making him smile, for making that laugh bubble out of him. If he could’ve done anything to stop Albus’s pain, he would’ve. But there was nothing he could do.

“Hey, come up here,” Scorpius asked gently, shifting to lie on his side (trying and failing to disguise the grimace of pain), and patting the space that this opened up behind him.

Albus wasted no time, he climbed up behind Scorpius and wrapped himself around him in the space of only a few shuddery breaths. His body was a strong presence at Scorpius’s back, and he melted back into the embrace. Scorpius felt Albus’s arms wrap around him, holding him tight. Albus buried his face into the back of his neck, and the breath on his bare skin didn’t even bother Scorpius anymore. This position was comfortable, it was familiar. Scorpius felt safe in Albus’s arms. And now he was going to ruin it with this conversation. But it had to be said.

“You need to be here when it happens. You and Aurora, and Dad.”

He felt Albus stiffen behind him, his arms tightening to the point where it was almost painful. Scorpius felt wetness on the back of his neck. Albus was crying again.

“Don’t do this,” Albus whispered brokenly.

Scorpius shifted around in Albus’s arms, turning so he could look at him. He gently pressed his forehead against Albus’s, closing his eyes, just for a moment.

 “Albus, I’m sorry. I love you more than anything. If only love was enough to save me.”

“Scorpius, stop!” Albus snapped, his words followed by a strangled sob as he tried to choke it down.

“Why are you talking like this? It sounds like you’re giving up.”

Scorpius just smiled sadly at him, tears falling down both of their cheeks. He reached out to wipe away Albus’s, wincing as the movement caused him pain. It wasn’t a very comfortable position, now that he was lying on the cursed shoulder. But he needed to be with Albus like this, needed to hold him as he wept, as they both wept.

This time the sobbing and clutching to each other felt different. Scorpius didn’t know if he was giving up. He didn’t see it that way. He wasn’t afraid of dying. He’d been fighting death for as long as he could remember; for his mum, for his patients. He’d lost as many battles as he had won, perhaps even more. But he knows this is one he won’t even begin. He would stand in front of death weapon-less and arms wide if it meant his daughter would be safe.

“It will be okay,” Scorpius whispered softly, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Albus’s mouth. “You’ll be okay.”

“I won’t,” Albus replied vehemently, shaking his head. “I can’t lose you Scorpius, I can’t. I can’t… I can’t…”

Scorpius hushed him, moving to cup his face with his good hand.

“Albus Severus Malfoy-Potter. You have given me so much happiness. A whole lifetime with you wouldn’t have been enough. I feel cheated. We could’ve had so much more time. I could have loved you so much more.”

Albus sobbed and clutched at Scorpius harder.

“Don’t talk like that, please. We’ll find a way. We’re going to save you.”

Scorpius admired Albus’s resilience and optimism, but he knew how bad it really was. James had found nothing yet. Time was forever moving on, each tick of the clock meaning the darkness was one step closer to reaching something vital. And he needed Albus to understand.

“Promise me you won’t disappear,” Scorpius said firmly, his voice no longer shaky but resolutely sure. He knew that Albus understood exactly what he meant – he didn’t want him to lose himself the way Draco had when he lost Astoria.

“Aurora needs you. She’ll need you even more. Listen to my dad. He’s been through it, he’ll be able to help you.”

Albus just buried his face into Scorpius’s chest and held on tighter. Scorpius’s heart broke, for Albus, for both of them. They shouldn’t have to be dealing with this. They should’ve had so much more time together and it wasn’t fair. But if Scorpius focused on that the anger would overtake him, and he didn’t want that.

“Look at me Albus. It’s spreading. It’s getting harder to take in a breath, I can feel it. It will only be a short time until it reaches my lungs and…”

“No, please,” Albus trembled, finally lifting his head and meeting Scorpius’s eyes.

“We just need more time,” he pleaded, as if it was Scorpius’s conviction alone that would stop him from dying.

Scorpius shook his head, and Albus wilted further. More tears fell and Scorpius wondered how long it would take for Albus to smile sincerely again.

“How do you have any tears left Albus?” Scorpius muttered, feeling like he hadn’t seen his husband’s face dry all day. Everyone had probably cried more today than the past month.

“If only your tears could heal me,” Scorpius muttered as he took in a sharp breath. He knew if he looked down he’d see the black tendrils snaking their way to his lung. It was getting harder to breathe. He was so focused on that thought that he didn’t register Albus freezing, the jostling as he moved to sit up coming as a surprise.

Scorpius tightened his grip on Albus’s hand. Albus looked torn, his head moving to look at the door, then Scorpius, and back to the door. They settled there for a few seconds before moving back to Scorpius’s face. Scorpius had seen this look before.

“Get that look off your face, Albus Malfoy-Potter. I know that look. Nothing good ever comes of it.”

Albus’s face morphed to an expression that said _I’m so sorry_ without him saying a word. Fear gripped hold of Scorpius and squeezed him tight.

“You can’t leave. Albus… you promised you wouldn’t leave me. I want you here, when I go. I need your face to be the last thing I see,” Scorpius scrambled, trying to grab hold of Albus’s legs to stop him from moving. But he just shuffled off the bed, standing beside it solemnly.

“I have an idea…” Albus said, regret and pain evident in his voice, but his actions still preparing to leave.

“Albus, stop!” Scorpius howled, tears falling freely, his heart beating too fast in his chest, his breath getting stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t breathe… he couldn’t… he couldn’t…

“Breathe,” Albus instructed, and so he inhaled sharply, almost choking.

“I need to do this. I think I can save you.”

Scorpius screamed at him to wait, but Albus just sent him a heartbroken look and a wrecked whispered “I’m sorry,” before turning to leave.

“Don’t leave me! Albus!” Scorpius screamed. He screamed harder than he’d ever done before.

But Albus’s feet kept moving. One step, and another, and another, until he reached the door.

Scorpius scrambled to stand up, but the weakness was too much and as soon as he put weight onto his feet his legs buckled.

Scorpius’s heart started to beat erratically in his chest as he crumpled to the floor, his breath fast and frantic, the jolting movements tripling his pain. He looked up at Albus, pleading for him to stay. Albus took a couple of steps towards him, and Scorpius let the relief wash over him. But then the door slammed open and Polly rushed into the room. The look came back on Albus’s face, and Scorpius lost it. He was crying and screaming and trying to reach Albus. He was pleading and shouting and trying to stop Albus. He couldn’t breathe, his vision was blurry, and he didn’t know if he was even saying words anymore. Albus couldn’t leave him. Not now. 

He couldn’t leave.

He couldn’t…

He couldn’t…

Scorpius felt a warmth wash over him and snapped his head round to see Polly standing next to Albus with her wand out. Albus’s torment and distress was evident. Even so, the last thing Scorpius saw before he lost consciousness was Albus slipping from the room.

 

“What’s going on?” Draco asked, his brow furrowed as he tried to peer past Albus to Scorpius’s room.

“Tears!” Albus exclaimed, looking round from Draco to his Mum to Lily to Aurora. They all looked confused.

“Is Papa okay?” Aurora asked quietly, her lip trembling as if she was going to cry again.

“Darling, yes. He’s okay. And I think I know how I can make him so much better,” Albus reassured, crouching down and pulling Aurora into a hug. From his position he could look up at the others.

“You do? Really?” Ginny asked, and Albus wasn’t sure if he was imagining the hopefulness in her voice.

“Tears, Mum!”

“Albus, what…”

“Phoenix tears. They heal!”

“Albus, phoenix tears have not been used in medical practice for years,” Polly’s voice sounded from behind him. 

Albus hadn’t even realised that Polly had stepped out of Scorpius’s room. He stood up, taking Aurora’s hand in his as he turned to look at her. He opened his mouth to speak but Polly cut in before he could, a livid expression on her face.

“I put Scorpius under a sedative spell. It’s standard for unhinged patients and it will wear off in a few minutes. Whatever you said to him had him distraught Albus. He was basically crawling across the floor trying to reach you.”

Aurora’s hand left his and she moved to curl around his leg, gripping tight. She let out a small whimper and Albus frowned at Polly; she hadn’t needed to say that.

“He didn’t want me to leave. But I had to,” Albus replied defensively. 

“Albus, what is going on?” Draco asked, exasperated and tired. Albus turned to look at him, and noticed just how weary he was. His hair, usually prim and proper in the customary pony tail, was untamed and flying all over the place. He reached up to run his hand through it, messing it up even more.

“Phoenix tears heal. They’d be able to stop his body attacking itself,” Albus started, unable to keep the hopefulness out of his voice.

“It’s a good hypothesis,” Polly agreed, “but there’s no way to get hold of any. Hospitals are prohibited from using or storing them, and even if we did manage to get some this curse is unknown and extremely complex. There’s no guarantee it would work.”

“But there’s a chance! We have no other options, this is the only thing we have!” Albus insisted, trying hard to make them see, to make them understand.

He moved his gaze to each of their faces, looking for… something. Some kind of sign he wasn’t crazy. He just saw pity. Why didn’t they understand? How did he make them understand? His gaze lingered on Draco again.

“Draco, he was talking about the end. About wanting us to be there. He doesn’t think there’s hope.”

As expected, these words wounded the recipient. It was what Albus had intended, the intake of breath, the slight sway of his body as if they had physically impacted with him.

“He’s not going to…”

“Papa’s DYING?” Aurora shrieked, immediately bursting into tears. Four sets of arms reached out to her, but she latched onto Albus who lifted her up (even though she was a bit old for it) and held her close to his heart. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arms around his neck and held on tight.

“Shh, sweetheart. I’m going to do everything I can to save him. You don’t have to worry,” Albus said softly, dropping his head down to rest his chin on the top of her head, tears leaking once more from his eyes.

“Albus,” Draco snarled, his eyes narrowed. Albus wished he could’ve avoided hurting Aurora like this. But time was racing on. Albus wished he had time to stand here and hug Aurora, to comfort her and explain to her what was going on. He wished that he didn’t have to walk away from her and Scorpius. But there was no time.

“There’s been no reported phoenix sightings in years,” Draco pointed out.

“Well, there’s been at least one _unreported_ sighting,” Albus replied.

The surprise from everyone was evident.

“When?” Draco barked.

“Years ago,” Albus answered, not flinching from the glare Draco was still sending his way. “We weren’t even married yet.”

“Who?”

“There was a lady I met on one of my excursions. She’s had a phoenix her whole life. Maybe she’d be able to help.”

“I think… I think maybe it could work,” Polly cut in. “Phoenix tears have regenerative powers. They were used quite regularly before the creature welfare act and they became a protected species. If it could heal the cells that have been destroyed…”

“I need to do this,” Albus pleaded, “I need to try.”

“We’d never get permission to use them,” Polly said with a frown. But that didn’t hinder Albus’s plan – permission was never something he had particularly strived for.

“Polly, please,” Albus begged. She was silent for a moment.

“I was never part of this conversation,” she said with a pointed glare.

“Thank you, Polly,” Albus breathed out, a feeling of relief that she agreed with him. He may be an expert on creatures, but medical use was her speciality, and if she also believed that this could work then that made him twice as determined.

“You shouldn’t leave him Albus. It will hurt him if you’re not there by his side,” Ginny said tenderly, reaching out to squeeze the top of Albus’s arm. Aurora was still sniffling in his arms, holding onto him tight.

“It has to be me. I made the unbreakable vow that I would never tell anyone where she was,” Albus explained.

“Smart woman. If word got out she definitely would have been attacked. They’re one of the rarest creatures of recent years, and their tears make them so valuable,” Lily said.

“I have to go there. I have to see if I can find her, see if she will help,” Albus appealed, letting his desperation and despair flow out with the words.

He knew it meant leaving Scorpius when he had promised to stay. It meant leaving Aurora. But Draco and his Mum would stay with them, they would be okay. If he did nothing, then none of them would be okay again.

Lily was the first one to speak.

“I’m coming with you.”

Albus knew he wouldn’t be able to get her to back down.

“Yes, fine,” he agreed. It would be good to have someone with him anyway.

“Mum, you’ll look after Aurora?” he asked, seeing that she was already folding. She sighed.

“Of course. Be safe, okay?”

Albus nodded as he let out his own sigh of relief. He turned to Draco, knowing that nothing his father-in-law could say or do would stop him from going, but wanting his understanding even so.

“I won’t leave his side. Me and Aurora, we’ll sit with him. I’ll make him understand,” Draco promised, moving forward and extracting Aurora from Albus’s embrace.

“Thank you, Draco,” Albus said, taking his first step away from the room.

“You don’t need to thank me. Just get the tears and bring them back. We can still save him. _You_ can save him.”

Albus cried as he started to run away. It was one of the hardest things he had ever done, leaving Aurora as she sobbed and screamed and wailed for him. It went against every instinct he had, to leave his family when they were like this. But if this was the only way then it was the only way. Lily’s hand moved to grab his as they raced down the corridor to get to the apparition enabled point. Would the woman even be willing to help them? What would Albus do if she wasn’t? What was he capable of doing to save Scorpius?

As they moved Albus replayed Scorpius’s tormented face as he had walked away from his bed, his cries as he begged him not to leave. He would understand. And if he didn’t, well, if it meant Scorpius lived to be mad at him then Albus wouldn’t even care. He’d smile his way through every scolding. Albus was doing this for him. It was all for him, in the way so many of the actions in his life were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do not like this chapter, it took me so long because I just couldn't seem to get in right, but I wanted to get something posted! 
> 
> Kudos and comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!


	7. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long, I know, but a comment from SunshineScorpius motivated me to finish writing this (so never underestimate how crucial comments are!). I'm starting a new job in January so kind of hoping I can finish it before then. I have it planned out, I just need to write it all.   
> If anyone does pick this back up again, thank you so so much! I know it's been a long time but I was writing original fiction and sort of lost my interest in this. But I'm back, I'm gonna finish it, and I hope you all enjoy! 
> 
> Since it's been so long I thought I'd start with a recap here, but if you want to go back and reread that would probably give you the best chance of remembering whats happening, picking up on clues etc! 
> 
>  
> 
> Recap: Scorpius and Albus have adopted a little girl, Aurora. She starts showing signs of wandless magic even though she is far too young to know how to do magic even with a wand. They keep her power a secret, worried about what would happen if the knowledge got out.   
> Harry is joint head of magical law enforcement, dealing with incomplete reports and threats from blood purists. He asks his assistant Avery to get him Aurora’s files to see if he can find out anything about Aurora’s birth parents, since they weren’t able to at the time the found her. He keeps the real reason he’s investigating it from Avery.   
> Scorpius is working at the hospital when he gets hit with a curse. The only suspicious person he can remember is a young adult male who hand his wand out in the emergency room against protocol.   
> The curse is dark magic: it is turning his veins black as it progresses, killing cells along the way. They have to find a way to stop it before it reaches his heart.   
> A healer is imperiused and gives them a message: telling them that the curse is fatal and if they want the counter-curse they have to give up Aurora. A legillemns tries to get into Scorpius’s mind, but they puzzle over how this could happen when all evidence points to someone having to be looking at the person to do this.   
> Avery brings files to the hospital and gives them to Albus. When he realises Draco and Scorpius have profiles/surveillance, he confronts his Dad about why he is wasting resources on them, and tells him that if he hadn’t been watching his family then perhaps they would have found out about who cursed Scorpius before it could happen. He tells Harry that if Scorpius dies because of his negligence, then he’ll never forgive him.   
> Albus has a revelation, thinking that phoenix teals might be able to heal Scorpius. He and Lily leave the hospital to find the woman with a phoenix that Albus had met on a previous excursion.

They apparated into the middle of a field. The sun had set at some point when they had been cooped up inside the hospital, and the darkness and stillness cast an eerie feel. Albus didn’t even know what time it was, how much time had past, how much time they had left.

“Is this the place?” Lily asked, waving her wand and illuminating the surrounding area. She moved it from side to side, and they both peered into the distance. Albus quickly spotted the farmhouse he had been looking for, heart lurching and a “Thank Merlin” tumbling from his lips.

“This is it,” he confirmed, reaching to give Lily’s hand a squeeze.

The small farmhouse sat to their right. It looked deserted, with half the roof collapsed, front crumbling and plants growing in and around it. It had been the same when Albus had last stumbled across it, by accident, when he had been investigating a hippogriff sighting. It was just a glamour, to try to keep muggles away. If you had magic the house transformed when you got close enough to be in the circle of the spell. Albus hoped it was still the case, and that the witch hadn’t left, or the house had actually fallen to ruin since he had last been.

They walked quickly, Albus stumbling over mounds of dirt and branches as he couldn’t take his eyes off the building. He was terrified that if he glanced away for even a second it would be gone when he looked back.

Lily didn’t even question why they were hurrying towards something that looked abandoned and decaying. She trusted him. If he was heading this way, then she knew that was where they needed to be.

As they got closer Albus’s doubts started to pour in. What if the woman didn’t answer? What if she refused to help? What if she no longer had the phoenix? What if she had left? It had been years. What if there was nothing here? What if…

Albus’s thoughts and feet came to a halt as he passed through the spell line. The house immediately transformed, the secrets it had been concealing revealed. The house was almost the same, but whole and well maintained. Albus smiled as he took in the rest, relieved that nothing had changed. There were creatures everywhere. There were different paddocks, a lake, even dragons flying around. Lily came to a stop beside him.

“Woah,” she exclaimed, surprise and wonder in her voice.

“She rescues them all, nurses them back to health,” Albus explained, shaking off the moment of awe and once again starting to move. Before they even reached the door it swung open. A crup bounded out, weaving in between their legs as they climbed the steps to stand in front of the door. The woman stood in the doorway, she looked older than Albus remembered.

“Albus Potter, I was wondering when I would see you again,” she said. She kept her tone even, her expressions not giving anything away. Albus couldn’t read her. His right hand automatically moved to his wedding ring. It was a nervous habit, something that he did without even thinking about it. But it felt different now. They had removed the stone, the protection now weaved around Aurora’s wrist in a bracelet. It would take getting used to, Albus knew it would, but the twisting of the ring still gave him comfort even though it simultaneously reminded him about Aurora being in danger, of Scorpius running out of time.

“Actually, it’s Albus Potter-Malfoy now,” Albus replied. It was automatic, a phrase he’d had to say so many times since they had married. There were a lot of people who thought that if they didn’t add on the Malfoy that it would be like his marriage to Scorpius wasn’t real. There were still those who did not approve of their relationship, of the implications of the families joining. Opposite sides of the war; opposite legacies; opposite family histories. People were still ignorant, and although they tried to rise above it Albus still felt angry and bitter whenever it happened. Lily gave Albus a nudge as the woman raised her eyebrow. Albus cursed under his breath, not even considering that it could come across as rude until the words had already been spoken. He winced, hoping he hadn’t ruined his only chance.

“My apologies, it has been a while since we last met. Congratulations.”

Albus was a bit floored by the reaction, and he knew he was just staring at the woman with wide eyes. Lily took that moment to step up, ensuring the silence didn’t get awkward.

“Lily Potter,” she greeted, reaching out to shake hands.

“Esther,” the woman replied, politely shaking her hand before turning back to Albus.

“I knew you’d be back,” she remarked, but this time she smiled. It was small, but it put Albus at ease. She wasn’t going to hex them off her property or turn them away.

He opened his mouth to explain, to beg for her help, but she held up a finger, making Albus stop before he could get a word out.

“I know why you’re here. Why don’t you come in, the doorway is no place to have a breakdown, you need a seat for that.”

Albus hadn’t realised that he had started crying, that his hands were shaking, that he could barely even take a step. Esther motioned for them to follow as she headed into the house.

“Albus, hey,” Lily’s voice sounded from beside him. She smiled sadly at him, taking his hand in hers.  They stepped through the door together.

Inside was just as crazy as outside. Albus glanced into every room as they passed, and he caught glimpses of a demiguise, porlocks, a jackalope, and a couple of golden snidgets that flew passed them, forcing them to duck out of their way. If they didn’t have Aurora and James’s kids running around their own house, Albus guessed this is what it would look like.

They reached what must have been the dining room, and Esther motioned for them to take a seat before summoning a teapot and some cups. Albus fell into the closest chair, his hand still shaking as he took hold of the handle of the teacup, lifting it and taking a sip just so he had something to do. 

Esther took the seat to his right and Lily the one to his left. Esther folded her hands carefully onto the table in front of her and focused her gaze on Albus. He placed the cup back onto the table, some tea spilling over the sides as it trembled. He took a deep breath, trying to keep his anxiety at bay. Now was not the time for an anxiety attack, even if he could feel it thrumming through every part of him.

“Esther, I’ve come to ask you for a favour,” he started, pausing as the lump in his throat choked him up. He was hyperaware of the tears that were slowly making their way down his face. He pursed his lips before moving to bite at the bottom one, trying to halt the crying a little.

“Who is it?” Esther asked.

“My husband.”

“Ahh, I knew you would come, but I didn’t know who for.”

“You knew?” Lily inquired, leaning forward in her chair so she was mirroring the way Esther sat, arms up on the table.

“Oh yes, I had a vision. It’s why I let your brother find me all those years ago.”

“Really?” Albus and Lily both responded, Albus sounding sceptical and Lily intrigued.

“Why else do you think I would let you leave without vowing you’d never look for me again? I knew you’d need me, but I wanted you to come back, so you could explain it to me yourself.”

Something must have passed over Albus’s face, a look of disbelief maybe.

“You don’t believe me, Albus?”

“I guess I just don’t know whether I believe in fate, in visions.”

“Well you don’t have to believe it. Just be thankful for it, or else where would you be? Now tell me, what’s going on?”

So Albus shook off that revelation and explained. He told her of the panic of getting the message, of the threat to his daughter, of the curse that was overtaking Scorpius and would kill him if they didn’t find something soon. Esther just sat there, letting out little hums of intrigue every so often, her face stoic. Albus hated how he couldn’t read her, it was infuriating. Was she going to help, or was she not? He could feel the anxiety pulsing under his skin, it made him feel sick.

Once he had finished talking he was breathing heavily, as if he had just run up 10 flights of stairs. No-one said anything, the concoction of sounds from the creatures the only thing breaking the silence. Albus could feel his heart stuttering in his chest. It felt like minutes had gone by, but it had probably only been a few seconds.

“How much do you love him?” She broke the silence with an easy question which had an easy answer.

“I love him more than anything. With all my heart.”

“Well, that’s a start.” And with that, the flapping of wings sounded, and the phoenix appeared in the doorway. Albus gasped, the beauty and power of the creature taking his breath away. The bird flew over to Esther, perching delicately on her shoulder.

“I grew up with Tempest. I never really knew where he came from, my father would make up outlandish stories every time I asked.” Esther looked at the phoenix with so much love in her gaze.

“We don’t want to take him away from you,” Albus asserted, leaning forward slightly in his chair, eyes not moving from the bird.

“Oh, dear, but that’s exactly what you want.”

Albus frowned, had she not understood what he had spent the last half hour explaining to her?

“We just need his tears,” he stressed, finally tearing his eyes away and looking into those of the woman who would decide whether Scorpius lived. “Please.”

Esther shook her head.

“It doesn’t work like that I’m afraid. You’ll need to take him with you if you want any chance of saving Scorpius.”

“How do you know?” Lily questioned.

“They need to be fresh. And I believe that Scorpius might need more than just a few drops to keep him alive.”

Albus deflated, curling in on himself as tears prickled in his eyes. That was it then. There was no way this woman would give up her phoenix. The thought crossed his mind that he could incapacitate her in some way, but he quickly dismissed the idea, not because he had reservations about hurting her, but because the phoenix was an incredibly loyal creature, and harming his caretaker would’ve been an excellent way to ensure that they never saw the bird again.

Albus shut down the way he did whenever he was overwhelmed. There was ringing in his ears, and voices faded so he just heard sounds and not words. His whole body felt like it was tingling, and his mouth dried up. Esther must have said something, because the next moment there was a flutter of wings, and Albus felt the phoenix land on his own shoulder. His head snapped up so quickly he almost got whiplash.

“You—” Albus broke off into sobs.

“Tempest will go with you. What kind of woman would I be if I hoarded him for myself when he could save your Scorpius?”

“Oh Merlin, thank you. Esther, thank you. I don’t know what to say,” Albus bawled, reaching across to grab hold of her hands.

“You’ll promise me one thing,” Esther said, a sad smile gracing herself.

“Anything,” Albus was quick to vow.

“Once you’ve used Tempest to save Scorpius, set him free. Don’t let anyone else capture him. He will be chained up and drained and I can’t let that happen to him.”

“Don’t you want us to bring him back?” Albus asked, his brow furrowing.

“No, Albus. I think it’s time to let him go,” she replied morosely, patting Albus’s hands before removing hers and standing up. Albus moved to do the same, and Tempest flew down to land on the table.

“While you’re here, you could help me out and go and feed the dragons. I can’t move like I used to.”

Albus nodded vigorously, eager to offer any help he could. He would do anything she asked to show how deep the gratitude went. She must know how much this means to him, how indebted he would be to her. She quickly explained where to find what he needed, and he rushed out the door. Lily could feel the relief that radiated from him, his mood had completely changed. For the first time they had real hope, an actual chance of saving Scorpius. A grin was plastered over Lily’s own face.

She watched Esther hobble back over to the chair, falling into it and sighing as soon as she was off her feet. Lily had a sickening revelation. Her smile faded.

“You won’t last long without Tempest, will you?”

Esther shrugged. “He’s keeping me alive.”

“But you didn’t say anything to Albus,” Lily said, marvelling at how nonchalant the old woman was being.

“Lily, you know your brother. Would he really be going through with this if he knew I would suffer for it?”

To be honest, Lily wasn’t sure. “To save Scorpius I believe he would do anything.”

“Yes, he would. I can see that. He has devotion and love, the purest of hearts. But it would tear him up inside, you know that. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.”

“Are you a seer?” Lily asked, glancing down as a creature she didn’t recognise wandered into the room. Esther didn’t even look down at it, she must’ve either been so used to them being in her space, or she had a very limited range of vision.

Esther leant forward towards Lily, threading her fingers together and resting them on top of the table. “Of a sort.”

“Can you see…” Lily hesitated, wondering whether she really wanted to know the answer. “Does Scorpius survive?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know,” Esther replied, dropping her gaze for a second before looking back up to meet Lily’s eyes. “I can see that there will be a sacrifice. One based on love so intense it could shatter worlds. That’s all I see.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Lily said in a weak voice, reaching up to move a stray strand of hair that had fallen over her eye.

“What you get from visions depends on how you interpret them. Don’t be so quick to only see the darkness.”

Tears glistened in Lily’s eyes as she wondered what this could all mean. Tempest shook his wings and Lily’s focus was brought back to him. He was a mesmerising creature, and although the power he yielded should have scared her it just made him even more spectacular.

“Are you scared?” Lily asked.

“Oh no, not at all,” Esther replied, not a hint of a tremble to her voice. “I’ve already had so much more time than I was fated. Who am I to be selfish and hold out for years I don’t need, when I could save a young man who deserves it so much more?”

Lily couldn’t fathom how calm she was, how utterly unperturbed she seemed about everything. “You could come with us to the hospital, maybe they have something there that could…”

Esther shook her head. “No dear.”

“They use all these muggle medicines and procedures now, maybe there’s something…”

Esther held up a hand, halting Lily’s speech. “I think I’ll go and visit my grandson. He’ll take good care of me until the end.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Lily stuttered, her voice breaking.

“Just promise me you’ll look out for them both. Scorpius and Albus.”

“This will cost you everything. How can you be so calm?” Lily appealed, hands raising before falling back down to her lap.

“This was my destiny. There is no death more noble than one which is to save someone else. I’ve lived a long life, I’ve had my chance at family and love and happiness. Now it’s time to give that to someone else. If I die, there will be one less light in this world. If Scorpius dies, so many lights will go out, so many will be living half-lives. Living without love is barely worth it. You all rely on him. He is a rare thing – a truly kind person. I read the papers, I know what he has been through. Yet all this pain and anguish has moulded someone brave and kind. Someone who is loved more with every life he touches. He does not deserve death.”

Lily was crying now as she stood up and crossed to the other side of the table, wrapping her arms around the woman who was going to give up everything for them. For Scorpius.

“Esther, I can’t even begin to tell you how much this means…” she whispered, and only now she was so close did she hear the hitch of the other woman’s breath.

“You don’t have to, dear. I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if anyone is reading this, let me know what you think?


	8. 8

Draco rolled his shoulders, trying to get rid of the small twinge of pain that had appeared after sitting crouched in the hard hospital chair for so long. Scorpius was still asleep; hadn’t yet woken from the sedative that Polly had given him when Albus left.

Draco sighed loudly, eyes skating over his son and his granddaughter. Aurora had tucked herself into Scorpius’s side, small breaths skating over his skin as she slept.

Again, it felt like he was reliving Astoria’s illness; watching Scorpius cuddle into his mum, but gently, afraid he would hurt her. The fact that Scorpius was now having to go through this with his own child, that history was repeating itself, was the cruellest thing Draco had ever known. He felt the tears begin to prickle again, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth as he let out a broken breath.

A soft knock on the door caused him to startle, head snapping round and eyes leaving his son for the first time since he had sat down. Harry gave him a sheepish smile from where he stood in the doorway, fingers curled around the frame.

“Is it okay if I come in?”

Draco nodded, his gaze already swinging back to Scorpius. He was gripping Scorpius’s hand with both of his, the skin cold under his touch. He heard Harry’s footsteps as he crossed the room and lowered himself into a chair.

Harry cleared his throat, but Draco didn’t look up to him. Harry sighed. “Look… I need to apologise for the files, the things Albus showed you.”

He paused. Draco held back a roll of eyes as he lifted his gaze to meet Harry’s, knowing he wouldn’t continue until they made eye contact.

“I’m not going to say it’s okay,” Draco started, noting the small, almost defeated nod that those words elicited from the other man, “I’m not going to say I understand. Because I don’t. You make mistakes Harry, no offense but it’s what you do.”

“Draco… I just… there was so much opposition to me because of my relationship to you; Albus’s relationship to Scorpius. People didn’t trust me to be unbiased, and, if I’m honest, if anything had happened, I probably wouldn’t have been.”

“But nothing did happen, Harry. You really believed that something would?”

Harry’s eyes widened. “No, of course not Draco. I…” he stuttered, as if searching for the right thing to say, “I trust you, I trust Scorpius. I know who you are: you’re good people.”

“And yet you couldn’t tell the others that and just move on?”

“It’s not that easy. My position is very insecure. If I don’t have trust then bad things happen, missions fail, aurors die.”

Draco sighed, he didn’t have the energy to argue. “Look, let’s just drop it, okay? It’s done, it happened, we can’t change anything so we just need to get on with things. We have so much to worry about without arguing between ourselves.”

Harry nodded, a forced smile appearing on his face for a moment. “I really am sorry Draco.”

“I know.” It’s all Draco could give him at the moment.

“I’m going to find out who’s behind this and we’re going to save Scorpius.”

“Forgive me if I don’t quite believe you,” Draco said, not harsh or bitter, but resigned.

“Hey. We’ve got to keep hope.”

Draco’s next words came out as a whisper. “I had hope last time. It didn’t make a difference. I still lost her.”

“This isn’t the same Draco.” Harry’s voice was soft. It held pity, which Draco loathed.

He let out an unhinged laugh. “Really? It feels exactly the same to me. Sitting at a hospital bed doing nothing. Not being able to save the person you love.”

Harry went to speak but Draco cut him off. “You don’t get it, you haven’t had to live through it before. It… it took so much of me. I don’t think…” he trailed off, letting go of Scorpius with one hand and raising it to swipe at the tears that had fallen. “If I lose Scorpius, I don’t think I’ll survive it.”

He looked down at his son, and with a shaky hand pushed the hair that had fallen into Scorpius’s face away from his eyes as they twitched with his dreams. His son, his boy. A random flash of memories started to play through his mind: the first time baby Scorpius had curled his tiny, tiny fingers around one of his; Astoria bouncing him on his hip as she sang to him; the drawings he used to make; the big, bright smile as he toddled to meet him at the door.

His hands were shaking uncontrollably, and he hadn’t realised Harry had reached over to grab at his wrist. His breath hitched.

“You will Draco. You know why? Because of this angel right here,” Harry moved his hand from Draco to smooth Aurora’s hair.

Draco knew what he was trying to say: last time he got through it because Scorpius needed him to, and this time he would because Aurora did. But he didn’t think that was quite true; Scorpius had had no-one else apart from him, but Aurora had another set of grandparents, a large family that would give her the love and support she needed. There wasn’t anything he could give her that someone else couldn’t.

He didn’t reply, not knowing how to put what he was feeling into words.

“If you want to help then maybe you can let me talk through some things, see if you can make sense of what I’ve got.”

Draco wasn’t sure if Harry was just trying to distract him, but whatever the reason was he appreciated it. It was better than sitting in silence with only his spiralling thoughts and sick son.

“Go ahead,” Draco said, ushering with his free hand. The other stayed gripping Scorpius’s, and wasn’t going to move any time soon.

“So I was thinking about what the imperiused healer said, and some of the words she used were exactly the same as the ones in the letter I got just this morning. She talked about names being joined that shouldn’t have been and bleeding impurity. I’ve had letters from blood purists before, but it doesn’t make sense for them to target Scorpius.”

Draco’s head tilted. “It is strange. The Malfoy name is still associated with the Sacred 28, and the fact that Scorpius could still father children… I would have thought if they had to target one of them to get Aurora, they would have gone for Albus.”

Harry stiffened at that, but nodded. “That’s what I thought too.”

Neither of them liked that they were talking about it, but it would have made more sense for Albus to be the one lying in the hospital bed. Draco cringed as, for a second, he had the thought that he wished it was.

“So maybe it’s not blood purists,” Draco said.

Harry straightened in his seat, reaching up to push back his hair.

Draco stroked his thumb over Scorpius’s knuckle as he started to twist in his sleep. “Think about what else the threat said: she’s not yours to keep. Whoever did this, whoever cursed Scorpius and is wanting Aurora, it feels like they believe they have some sort of claim to her.”

Draco’s gaze moved to look at the little girl, and he knew Harry’s did too. They had known her since she was tiny, had watched Scorpius and Albus love her with everything they had, helped them through the challenges of parenthood and been there as she grew into the kind, gentle, openhearted girl she was today. Her nose twitched as she snuggled further into Scorpius, face burrowing into him. Draco watched as both of their chests rose and fell with breaths, taking comfort that, for the moment, they were both here.

“You think that whoever is after Aurora and her power was the one who was responsible for it,” Harry said. “You think it’s one of her parents.”

It wasn’t a question, but Draco gave a curt nod anyway. “Wouldn’t that make sense?”

“But what about the whole impurity thing? The letter that was the same as those tracked back to blood purists?”

“Maybe they were trying to throw you off, get you looking in a different direction. And it worked didn’t it? You’ve been looking into people with death eater or supremacist links, and if they don’t have any they’ll know you won’t come across them.”

Harry cursed under his breath, pushing himself up and starting to pace the few steps between the side of Scorpius’s bed and the wall of the room. “If it is a parent, I have no idea where to start looking. We tried, back when she was found. Nothing was ever discovered to even hint at who they were.”

“But now they’re back. If they’ve been close enough to curse Scorpius then there must be some trace of them. You just need to look. Maybe they’ve been sloppy.”

Harry was still pacing, hands clasped together and fingers tapping. Draco could tell he was already thinking of a plan.

“Another thing that’s been bothering me about all this,” Harry continued, “is this curse. Why not use it on other people? If this is an organised supremacy group, they could use it on muggleborns, muggles even. We’ve seen how fast it spreads; people would have no chance. They could commit mass murder and no-one would be able to stop them. But they haven’t. They’ve only used it now, on Scorpius. But if what you’re suggesting is true, then this isn’t a grand scheme to make the magical population ‘pure’ again. This is personal.”

“Have you any lead on the suspicious man that Scorpius saw?” Draco asked.

Harry reluctantly shook his head. “We saw what looked to be the man, it matched Scorpius’s description of what he was wearing, was near the room at the right time, but we didn’t get any shots of his face.”

Draco hummed, trying not to let frustration leak into it. He knew Harry was trying everything he could think of, but getting no results meant they were getting further and further away from saving Scorpius with every tick of the clock.

“Scorpius described him as early 20s. That wouldn’t fit for the caster of the curse to be a parent. That’s too young.”

Harry let out a thoughtful hum. “They could have contracted for it, had an accomplice, if they didn’t want to risk being in the hospital.”

“Or maybe…” Draco trailed off.

Harry stopped his pacing. “What is it?”

Draco looked at the other man. “Maybe it was another relation. A sister, maybe a _brother_.”

Harry picked up on the heightened intensity to the last word. “What are you saying Draco?”

“We’ve been thinking about the person who tried to get into Scorpius’s head. How they were able to do it without being in the room.” Harry’s eyes widened as he put together what he was saying. “But we didn’t even stop to think whether they were actually in there with us.”

Harry was holding his breath; his hands had curled into fists at his side. Thinking of the only person who had been in that room that matched the description. The only person that they didn’t unconditionally trust.

Draco swallowed before continuing. “How much do you really know about Noah?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is un-beta'd so I apologise for any mistakes! 
> 
> Let me know what you think? Is it too confusing, too much explaining? Any theories or guesses? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the plot because it's so hard and I'm worried things don't make sense, so any constructive feedback is most welcomed! 
> 
> Writing Draco always makes me so emotional, I don't know why I do it to myself. I hope you're still following and engaged with the story. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, kudos and comments are so very appreciated!


	9. 9

The location they had chosen to apparate to was only a street away from the hospital’s entrance. Now that they had the phoenix in their possession, the next challenge was sneaking it into the hospital without anyone seeing. As Polly had said, there were protocols and rules which would stop them from using the tears. They couldn’t come this far only to be barred by bureaucracy.

Tempest was perched on Albus’s shoulder, and every so often he’d ruffle his wings or adjust his position. Albus startled every time he moved, unused to the fluttering so close to his ear.

Lily was rocking back and forwards onto her heels as they planned. “What about a cloaking spell?”

Albus shook his head. “Scorpius told me that any concealment spells are revealed as soon as you walk through the front door, they have a revealing arch built into the doorframe.”

His fingers were tapping an uneven rhythm on his thigh as he stood, each breath he took feeling shakier than the last. He hadn’t had any updates, could only assume that meant there had been no change, but the thrumming under his skin and the prickling that crawled over him indicated the anxiety he felt that they were already too late.

“Merlin we don’t have time for this,” he said, lifting his hand to run through his unruly hair, but fingers accidently brushing against Tempest instead. Then an idea sprung.

“The cloak!” Albus shouted, twisting to look at Lily. “Who has the cloak?”

Although technically the invisibility cloak belonged to James, it somehow seemed to make its way in rounds between the three siblings. Albus hadn’t seen it in months, probably close to half a year.

Lily’s lips turned down at the corners.

“James,” they both said at the same time, his name paired with a sigh. James was far too busy at the ministry, Albus didn’t want to pull him away from the research for anything, not even this. Of course it couldn’t have been easy and been at Lily’s.

“The last time we talked about it I think he said Evan had been using it to scare Mia, so Adina confiscated it,” Lily said.

Albus smiled briefly at the mention of James’s wife, who didn’t put up with any nonsense. “Can you—”

Lily was nodding before he’d even asked. “I’ll go to theirs, she’ll probably still have it somewhere and I’ll be right back. I promise.”

And she was gone before Albus could even open his mouth to thank her.

He let out a deep breath, feeling his whole body collapse as he backed into the nearest wall. Now that he wasn’t moving, that he didn’t have adrenaline spurring him onwards, he felt weary down to his bones.

His eyes were itching from all the crying and he still couldn’t shake the heavy nauseous feeling that sat deep in his stomach. Tempest’s claws were digging into his shoulder, reminding him of how much was riding on this working. If the tears didn’t help, if they didn’t heal his husband… Albus’s breath hitched again. He couldn’t lose Scorpius. Not like this, not when they deserved so much more time.

Albus ran his hands over the rough bricks trying to anchor himself, feeling the coarseness scrape his palm. Scorpius had always been the pillar of strength he could fall apart against, but still keep standing. Just now it felt like he had nothing to hold on to, that if he let himself drown in his thoughts he’d be swept away, too far to come back.

He winced as he remembered Scorpius screaming out for him, the raw helplessness in his voice, the way his face was twisted into a mask that showed only distress. Albus pursed his lips to the side, wishing, hoping, needing those screams to not be the last thing Scorpius will ever say to him. Not his Scorpius, who was full of light and kindness and radiated love with every breath. Their last conversation couldn’t be contaminated with a pain and betrayal that was so unusual for them. It just couldn’t.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there unravelling, but when Lily’s hand softly touched his forearm he was hurled back to the present with a gasp.

Gripped tightly in one hand was the cloak. Her smile was sad, her eyes shining with heartbreak. “Albus,” she said softly, running her hand up and down his arm. 

He shrugged off her touch and concern, mind trained only on one thing.

“You take him,” Albus instructed, knowing he was too tall now to be completely covered by the cloak. As soon as the words left his mouth Tempest’s wings were spread as he swooped from his shoulder to Lily’s. Looking at him perched there Albus was hit by how stunning the phoenix was, how powerful. They were incredibly loyal creatures; faithful to their master without fail. They were clever, and although Albus had never really had the chance to study one outside books, he knew they could understand instructions. To see it happen before him was nothing short of incredible, but he didn’t even feel a tiny twinge of awe as he watched them both disappear with a swish of the cloak.

It didn’t take long to get to Scorpius’s room, but time dragged for Albus as his hurried steps echoed through the corridors. By the time he crashed through the door he was out of breath, heart hammering. The second he saw Scorpius, saw the machines keeping their steady rhythm of his heartbeat, a solid thing to show he was still alive, his knees almost buckled from underneath him.

Draco, his Mum and Aurora were all around his bedside. As soon as they noticed he was alone the brows furrowed and defeat fell across their faces. Those looks were replaced by open-mouthed, hopeful smiles when Lily shook off the cloak and revealed herself to the room.

“Woah,” Aurora was the first to speak from her position on Draco’s knee, leaning forward with an outstretched arm. Draco pulled her back towards his chest. Her hair and clothes were ruffled, and there was an indentation in Scorpius’s sheets, an impression of where she had been lying. At least one of them had gotten some sleep, and Albus liked to think that her presence will have brought comfort to Scorpius, even if he wasn’t conscious.

Without another word being uttered Tempest shook out his wings, taking flight and landing atop the rail of Scorpius’s bed. Ginny quickly stretched over to pull the gown down Scorpius’s torso to expose the cursed skin. Tempest lowered his head, and the first few tears dropped.

Everyone’s eyes were trained on the black tendrils snaking across Scorpius’s pale body. The red lines, where they had started to mark the curse’s progress every half hour, told a sickening story of how far it had already spread. Starting on his arm and moving only a short distance between slices of red, it was now halfway up his neck and almost into the middle of his chest. And the spaces between red marks were getting longer, as if the curse was getting stronger as it felt how close to its end target it was.

Albus hadn’t really been expecting an immediate effect, but couldn’t help but be disappointed when the tears soaked into Scorpius’s skin and did nothing. No sudden whoosh, no complete disappearance of the black snakes between one blink and the next. The tears kept falling but Albus looked away, unable to keep watching nothing happen, watching it fail. His heart stuttered. He turned his gaze to Scorpius’s face, only now noticing the bubble-like charm that surrounded it.

He turned to his mum who pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around his trembling form. Lily was speaking, probably regaling the others with the tale of the woman and the phoenix. Albus didn’t know if anyone had spoken to him or asked him questions, wouldn’t have been able to reply anyway. It felt like his heart had leapt into his throat.

Ginny rubbed a hand at his back, noticing how he was still staring at the charm around Scorpius’s head. “He had trouble breathing once the curse reached his lung. They put him on the ventilator charm to assist.”

“Why didn’t you send a message?” Albus asked, his voice breaking on multiple words, tears already clouding his vision.

“There’s nothing you could have done until you got here with the phoenix. We didn’t want to distract you.”

“Can I… can I still touch him?” he whispered, hand already reaching out.

“Yes darling,” Ginny replied softly.

Albus’s hand fell through the charm as if it wasn’t there, resting on Scorpius’s cheek. He was too cold under his touch, the warmth he usually exuded absent in a way that almost had him wrenching away. Instead, he threaded his fingers through his blond hair, touched his eyebrows, skated a fingertip along his jawbone.

When he pulled away a small, delicate hand grabbed hold of his, and Albus turned his attention to Aurora who was stretching over to be able to touch him. His lips turned up into a shaky smile as he scrambled around the end of the bed, reaching Aurora and immediately pulling her up into his arms. She swung her arms around his neck and burrowed her face into the crook of his neck. Albus felt the tears and the shaking, but she cried quietly. He rested his chin on the top of her head and pulled her tighter.

His heart almost broke as she choked on a sob. “I don’t want Papa to go,” she whispered despairingly.

“Me either, sweetheart,” he replied, knowing it wasn’t the comfort she was seeking but not being able to lie to her and say that everything would be okay.

After a while Albus ended up in the chair next to Scorpius, Aurora still cuddled into him on his lap. Draco had started pacing, and Ginny and Lily were on the opposite side, eyes following every tear as it fell from Tempest to Scorpius. His mum had filled him in on what James and Harry were doing, which was apparently not much different from when he had left. James was still searching his archives; Harry was still trying to identify the young man. There had been no massive breakthroughs when he was gone.

After a while a shrill alarm sounded in the room, making everyone jump.

“Time to make another mark,” Draco said. A second later Polly walked into the room with a brief greeting. She must have noticed Tempest, there was no way she could’ve not seen the magnificent bird, but she resolutely kept her eyes trained on Scorpius.

As she bent over Scorpius with her wand outstretched, she let out a short gasp.

Albus tried to scramble over to see but it was hard with Aurora on his knee. Lily managed to get into a position to see before he did.

“Merlin,” Lily exclaimed, turning away from Scorpius.

Albus’s heart dropped as he shuffled Aurora slightly, eyes closing for a heartbeat before he forced himself to look. He was expecting the blackness to have spread further, to be almost at Scorpius’s heart by now. But instead, he was looking at a tendril that had only advanced barely an inch past the last red dash.

“Is that the mark you just did?” Albus asked, not really allowing himself to hope just yet.

“Nope. That’s from half an hour ago. If it was progressing at the same pace we would have expected to be at least 4 or 5 inches longer,” Polly replied. 

“Does that mean…” Lily trailed off.

Albus was hesitant when he spoke. “That the tears have stopped it?”

His wide, hopeful eyes turned to his mum, seeking comfort from the person he knew to expect it from. He could see relief in her expression, knew she was full of hope too. His grip tightened around Aurora.

“I’m not meant to know about…” Polly trailed off with a shake of her head. “Nevermind,” she whispered almost to herself. She directed her next words directly to Albus, whose arms were curled around his daughter with Draco directly behind him, hand gripped to his shoulder. “It looks like they’ve halted the progression, which is brilliant,” she said, but Albus could tell there was a but coming. “But, it hasn’t healed the already affected areas.”

“What does that mean?” Albus asked exasperatedly.

“It means we’ve stopped it in its tracks, so Scorpius should remain stable in this condition. But it also means he’s not healing. With the regenerative powers the tears have, we were all hoping that the curse would be defeated, that the darkness would disappear. But it hasn’t, which unfortunately means that although Scorpius is stable, he’ll have to remain on that ventilator charm; he’ll not get worse, but he won’t get better.”

Albus scrunched his eyes tightly. Feeling like he let everyone down, that he let Scorpius down.

“Albus, what you’ve done is keeping him alive. You should be proud for thinking of it,” Polly said.

Albus scoffed. “What does it matter though? I haven’t saved him, cured him. Tempest won’t be able to cry forever. What have I given him really?” The bitterness was strong, and he appreciated the way Draco tried to comfort him with his touch, but it wasn’t working.

“You’ve given him time, Albus,” Ginny offered. “That’s the most important thing right now.”

“She’s right,” Polly agreed. “You’ve given the others time to find something. The tears might not be the cure, but they’re keeping his heart beating, keeping him alive.”

“What if it’s not enough?” Albus asked, voice strangled.

Nobody had an answer to that.


	10. 10

Noah Buckley did not exist.

That was the first thing Harry learnt upon commencing his research. There was no birth certificate. No records at all.

It was not a good sign.

When he started to think about the boy, Harry realised how little he actually knew. And all that he knew was what Noah had told him. Harry doubted any of it was true. Noah had muggle parents, grew up somewhere near the border of Scotland and England, liked the sport of hockey, and was passionate about gardening. Harry had taken part in several gardening conversations at the numerous dinners they had together. They had once spent half an hour talking about the pros and cons of sea poison tree flowers (which were beautiful and not at all poisonous, despite the name). Harry couldn’t understand how this boy, who Lily was so happy with, could be part of such an evil and sadistic plot.

Harry didn’t want to believe it. But Noah Buckley did not exist, so who was it that he was welcoming into his home? Could he be the caster of the curse? Could he know how to reverse it? Could he be Aurora’s brother, plotting to take her back to her birth family?

Harry didn’t have time to think of more scenarios as the shrill ding altered Harry of company just before the boy himself walked calmly out of the lift onto their floor.

“Thanks for coming in,” Harry greeted, trying to keep his tone even and welcoming as he motioned for Noah to follow him into his office. He had thought about sending an auror to arrest him, make him stew in an interrogation room for a while before coming at him hard with words of fury. But he ultimately decided that he wanted to see the boy’s face the moment he realised he had been caught.

“No problem Harry. I’m happy to do whatever I can to help Scorpius,” Noah replied, flashing an avid smile that felt entirely wrong for the situation.

Harry’s fists clenched at his son-in-law’s name, eyes twitching as he thought of him lying on that hospital bed, daughter clutching him, father already preparing to mourn him.

He swallowed back some harsh words as Noah situated himself on the sofa. Harry closed the door behind them and stayed standing, too fidgety to sit.

Noah looked up at him with concerned eyes, and Harry couldn’t tell whether it was a mask of fake concern for Scorpius, or perhaps concern over what it was he was really doing here.

“I need you to answer some questions for me, Noah.”

“Sure.” His hands folded together on his lap.

“Let’s start easy. Is Noah even your real name?”

Noah’s chest rose with a sharp intake of breath. His eyes widened, but only for a moment, before he schooled his face back to blank.

“Yes, my name is Noah.” He sounded cautious, but not scared.

“Buckley?” Harry asked.

There was a pause. Noah averted his eyes, fingers tapping on his thighs.  

“Who are you Noah?” Harry’s voice held a layer of weariness which competed with the anger.

Noah’s gaze remained trained on his knees.

Harry’s grip tightened around his wand, his other hand curling into a fist. “Scorpius, who is like a son to me, is currently lying in St Mungos getting weaker every minute, and I swear that I am being completely honest here when I say I do not have time for any kind of bullshit. If you were part of this scheme to harm Scorpius, to kidnap my granddaughter…”

Noah’s head snapped up, eyes wide, head shaking furiously.

“If you got close to Lily only to get close to them. I…” Harry trailed off, not entirely sure what threat he was going to fire out, not sure what he would do if his suspicions turned out to be truths.

“Merlin, no! I would never…I can’t believe you’d even suggest… I’m not… I’m not like my grandfather.”

Harry’s head shook as he reached up to pull at his hair. He forced himself to take a deep breath, forcing the frustration out with the air. But it only came flowing back in when he inhaled. Perhaps he should’ve had someone else question him, he was too emotional, this was too personal. But even as he thought it, Harry knew he wouldn’t have trusted anyone else.

“Noah, I need you to tell me who you are in the next few seconds. I don’t have the time or patience for you to stammer and sidestep the subject with…”

“Carrow.”

Harry reared back as if he’d been slapped, mouth fluttering open with a gasp.

Noah met his eyes. “My name is Noah Carrow. My grandfather was Amycus Carrow. But I have nothing to do with what’s happening to Scorpius I _swear_ to you.”

Harry’s mind was reeling. He stepped back until he collided with his desk, hands immediately coming up to clutch at the wood. Amycus, who had tortured Harry’s friends in Hogwarts, who had twisted the school from a sanctuary to a hell. Amycus who had tried to filter out mudbloods and make Hogwarts as pure as it could be.

Harry didn’t even realise he was pointing his wand at Noah until the boy’s hands flew up in a surrender position.

“Amycus died in Azkaban. He never had any children.”

Noah was still shaking his head. “He didn’t know. My grandmother never told him she was pregnant, never reached out once the baby was born. She was… scared of him. Scared someone would try to take her son away from her if they knew. She wouldn’t have been able to protect him. But even so, my Dad was a Carrow on his birth certificate, she couldn’t find it in her to break that tradition. And so I am on mine too. But we always went by her name—Buckley.”

“So you don’t have muggle parents? That was a lie?” Harry almost cursed himself at the question, knowing the answer was obvious.  

“It was easier to tell people I came from a muggle family. People don’t ask many questions after that. It was a way to hide that part of me. I couldn’t tell people I was a Carrow.”

Harry’s eyes narrowed as he studied Noah’s features, searching for anything that reminded him of Amycus. He came up empty. Noah’s eyes didn’t hold sick bloodlust. His hands weren’t stained. How could there be a whole line of succession for one of the most prominent death eater families, and the ministry knew nothing about it? There were _birth certificates_. Even if they used the Buckley name in public someone should have known. This was a failure of his department; a failure of him. First the Malfoy files, now this, Harry was feeling dejected, like everything he had done in this position had been wrong.

And now, Harry was reeling. Was it true? Was Noah making it up because he knew it would shock him, buy him time before they could learn the truth? Harry was exhausted, sleep deprived, terrified for Scorpius, for Albus, for everyone. He felt like he was one minute from crashing to a heap on the floor.

“I don’t believe it.” He couldn’t quite grasp the idea. “Amycus would have known. Someone would have known. You wouldn’t have hidden it.”

“Merlin, why would I not? You have a front row seat to see how the Malfoys are treated. Do you see the looks people still shoot Draco? And he’s reformed, was only a child during the war. And Scorpius? I’ve heard how even you had doubts. How do you think people would look at me if they found out I was related to one of the most ruthless death eaters, who had stayed true to his ideals until the very end? He was a monster. He wasn’t forced into it or brought up to believe in the cause. He just enjoyed the pain, enjoyed making people suffer. If I ever told anyone, I know what they’d do. They’d recoil, just like you did. Carrows don’t make friends, don’t get to be happy. I didn’t want that. I couldn’t… couldn’t live like that. So I made up a person, the boy I wanted to—wished I could be. And I became him.”

Harry pulled his glasses off, set them down on the desk, and reached up to rub at his temples. A Carrow? A liar? Both? Harry felt like this story was designed to play on his insecurities and empathy, especially after what just happened with Albus and the Malfoy files. He still cringed at the bitter disappointed and loathing that had rolled off his son. It seemed almost too convenient, that this boy would come in asking him to see past his family name.

Harry couldn’t tell if he wanted Noah to be involved or not. If he was it would devastate Lily, who already knew heartbreak, but they’d have something to go on, someone to interrogate and look into and try to find the cure. If it wasn’t him, they were back to knowing nothing, to scrambling about for anything that could hint at who was behind it all. There was going to be pain either way. Harry closed his eyes, just for a heartbeat, feeling incredibly old.

When he let his eyes flicker open he sized up the distance between himself and Noah, noticed the way the boy’s hand hovered just above his wand pocket. He hadn’t confiscated the wand when they came in, and now he was regretting that decision.

Harry pushed away from the desk, taking a step towards the sofa. “You’re telling me you are a descendent of one the most ruthless wizards that ever existed.”

“I am.” Noah’s face was twisted, like it physically hurt him to admit it. Was he acting? Was this all a huge performance? Harry didn’t know what to believe, wished that Ginny was with him. She had always been a better judge, was better at noticing the little ticks that unveiled people’s lies.

“But you’re not involved in this plot targeting my family.”

“I’m not!” Noah exclaimed, voice raising, half rising to his feet before he thought better of it and flopped back down to the cushions.

Harry eyed the wand once more. “You’re going to give me your wand now, and I won’t have to detain you with a spell.”

Noah’s shoulders sagged but he immediately complied, reaching for his wand, flipping it so he was holding it pointed towards himself, and stretching it out to Harry. Harry’s fingers curled around it and he retreated back to the desk, placing it quickly in an automatic lock box that he kept there.

“I know you’re finding this hard to believe,” Harry gave a snort, almost rolling his eyes. “But I promise you this thing that’s going on with Scorpius has nothing to do with me. I know how it looks. I should have told you—”

“You should have told _Lily_ ,” Harry cut him off.

Noah sighed heavily, meeting Harry’s eyes in a contact that seemed to push a pulse of fear across the room. “I was too scared. Too scared about how her eyes would change, that she would stop being kind and carefree and joyful when she was with me. I didn’t want to lose her.”

“You should know that a name means nothing to Lily. She cares only about who you are, not your family’s past.”

“It’s different though. Albus has Scorpius, I get that. But what would people say if you brought another death eater name into your family. Joining with the Malfoys is one thing, but a Carrow? It would look like a pattern.”

They were getting off topic. Harry could be enraged on behalf of his daughter later, but for now he needed to find out how much of the words coming out of Noah’s mouth were lies.

“The description of the man who cursed Scorpius matches you. We have reason to believe that this wizard could be related to Aurora, or at least be in contact with her parents.”

“Well it wasn’t me,” Noah stated, voice full of conviction, no waver or tremble. But that was exactly what a guilty person would say.

“Where were you this morning?” Harry asked. And Merlin, was it just this morning that all this had started? A quick glance to his watch told Harry that they were now actually hours into the next day, the hand pointing at the golden 2. Technically, yesterday then. But since no sleep would be claiming him it still counted to Harry as the same day. An impossibly long, exhausting one.

“I was with Lily! You can ask her, we were together all day before we came to the hospital.”

“You could have done something to her, impeurised her like the nurse.”

“I would never do that to Lily. And the nurse, that wasn’t me.” Instead of the words being shouted like Harry had been expecting, they were delivered in a tired, broken tone. He seemed genuinely distressed at the accusation. “You have no evidence, all you’re basing this on is suspicions and my family name. I thought with your ties to the Malfoys, with your son having that name as part of his own, that you’d be over such prejudices.”

“Noah, I didn’t even know you were a Carrow before you came in here. I brought you here because you were in the room when someone tried to infiltrate Scorpius’s mind. You were the only one there who could have done it.”

“I don’t even know how to do legilimency!” Noah’s voice had taken on a twist of urgency.

“I can’t believe anything that you say Noah. And there’s no way to prove that’s true.”

“Give me veritiserum.”

Harry’s eyebrows raised. “Something a wizard would suggest if they knew how to resist its effects.”

Harry studied Noah’s face again, but this time he was looking for any features he shared with Aurora. The more Harry thought about the relation theory the more he became convinced. Whoever was behind this felt like Aurora belonged to them, that they had a claim over her. It was personal, not anything to do with impurity at all. Could this boy be Aurora’s brother?

“Don’t waste your time looking into me Harry. The people who did this are still out there. It’s them you need to be focusing on.”

Harry’s fist came down on his desk with a sharp bang, rattling everything that was sitting on it. “Don’t you dare tell me how to do my job,” he hissed. Noah cowered backwards, as if he could disappear into the sofa. “This is Scorpius’s life we’re talking about, the safety of my granddaughter. There’s enough for you to be a person of interest—you recently got close to our family, you’d met Aurora, you were in the room when the legilimency was being performed, you have lied to us all about who you are.”

“Well then why would I tell you now? Why would I out myself as a Carrow if I really was behind this.”

Harry didn’t have an answer to that, but even after all these years there were things criminals did that made no logical sense.

“Aurora could be your sister. Your Dad could’ve planned this whole thing to get his daughter and her power back.”

“She _could_ be. But she’s not.”

Harry paused, trying to get his spiralling mind back into the right frame to think clearly. He had to admit, if this was a family affair it would make very little sense for Noah to admit now who he was, when they hadn’t even known this branch of the Carrow family tree existed. The ministry would never have found them, they could have evaded detection. Bu this could also be a complex play, having him second guessing everything, making Noah appear innocent, because why would he volunteer information if he was involved?

The way Harry saw it there were three options:

  1. Noah was a Carrow. He cursed Scorpius in the hospital and is responsible for all of this.
  2. Noah wasn’t a Carrow, he was making it up to throw Harry off (even more so than he already was). He wasn’t a Carrow, but he did curse Scorpius.
  3. Noah was a Carrow, and he didn’t curse Scorpius, wasn’t involved in this in anyway. And Harry was wasting precious minutes that they didn’t have to spare.



“I’m going to keep you in custody, until we can verify your story. I’ll have people look for your birth certificate, get someone to talk to Lily about your whereabouts, check her over for any signs of being controlled.”

Noah winced at that, opening his mouth but snapping it closed before he could say anything.

“I also want to do a muggle DNA test to see if you and Aurora are related.”

Noah’s brow furrowed, but he nodded anyway. As a precaution, Harry waved his wand and cuffs appeared around Noah’s wrists.

With another wave of his wand Harry had sent out a message to two of the aurors that were sat at their desks outside, detailing what needed to be done with the suspect. Before they could come in to take Noah away, a staggeringly bright galloping horse appeared in the room, head shaking as it slid to a stop in front of Harry.

James’s patronus.

Harry’s heart stopped before commencing at a relentless pace, thundering in his chest.

“Dad,” the message started, and Harry couldn’t help but be thrown back to another message, years ago, burned into a blanket. “Come to the hospital.”

Harry was already scrambling, pushing his glasses back on his nose and already hurrying to the door. He didn’t even stop to think about Noah hearing the message, barely even glanced at the two aurors who had grabbed Noah’s elbows and were currently scanning him for any weapons before he went into holding.

Harry reached out a hand to hover above the nose of the horse, it’s blue, shimmering form strong and resolute. In the message, James’s voiced hitched, sounding hopeful but uneasy. “I think I found something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot is hard. Any feedback would be greatly welcomed! :)


	11. 11

When James rammed through the door, making it bash harshly against the wall, he was out of breath. Everyone but Lily, who had Aurora’s head in her lap, and Albus, who remained in his chair clutching Scorpius’s hand, automatically leapt to their feet.

Draco’s eyes were drawn to the raggedy notebook James’s fingers were clenched around. He sucked in a jagged breath.

“James,” Ginny almost whispered, the greeting sounding more like a question.

Thankfully, he understood how much they needed the information, didn’t spend time on small talk or unnecessary, long-winded introductions.

He held out the tattered book, stepping closer to Albus so he could see too. Everyone crowded around. There was an intricate design drawn on the front, something that looked to Draco like a house crest or family emblem.

James started his explanation with no preamble. “One of my team found this old diary. Almost every page is dedicated to the creation of a potion and spell, which the writer described as being powerful enough to stop any dark curse.”

It felt like everyone in the room took a simultaneous gasp of breath.

“Has it been tried out? Did they write anything about the success of it?” Harry questioned, and Draco saw him reach out to curl his hand around Ginny’s wrist.

James shook his head, lips pursed. “That’s the thing, the diary stops after the final set of instructions. There’s no record of experiments or tests. It seems to be mostly theoretical, although the writer went through a huge number of drafts and seemed to be extremely confident this final version would work.”

“Perhaps there’s another notebook with trial results in it?” Lily questioned, stroking Aurora’s hair as she slept with her head in her lap. Draco hoped she would stay sleeping for the whole conversation. It was closer to morning than night now, the sun just beginning to peek out above the surrounding buildings. Aurora was the only one who had slept at all, and the exhaustion could be seen in the tense postures, wrinkled foreheads, yawns and blinking eyes of them all.

Draco already expected the answer before James spoke.

“We looked. This was the only one of its kind. We didn’t even find anything else with the same handwriting. Well, not yet anyway. People are still scouring through, but we’ve done most of the ones from this year era.”

“James,” Albus spoke up, voice weary, broken. “What is this potion? You’re… you’re holding something back, I can tell.”

Draco, who was nearest to him, reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. He felt the trembling body under his touch; took a few steps closer.

“The ingredients are… complex,” James said, raising a hand to pull his fingers through his hair.

Draco’s stomach clenched, the atmosphere immediately moving from incredibly hopeful to terribly dejected.

“You mean unobtainable?” Harry asked.

“No, nothing like that,” James was quick to reassure, “just… let me read it to you, that will make more sense.”

Draco forced himself to relax his grip, not even realising he had begun to squeeze Albus’s shoulder with such fierce pressure. He caught Ginny’s eye before James started reading, hers urging him to keep faith. Surely they couldn’t come this close to an answer and have it slip through their fingers like sand?

James flipped the diary open to a page that had been clearly marked. “To begin with, a base healing potion – wormwood, bubotuber pus, dittany, dragon liver. The potion also requires the moly plant. We also need the leftover ashes from a phoenix reincarnation,” everyone’s gaze turned to look at Tempest, the bird who was still crying, “and the final two… ingredients isn’t really the right word here…” James trailed off, gaze flicking to Albus then back down before continuing. “It needs part of the soul of the person being saved, their happiest memory, the one that allows them to produce a patronus.”

“How are we meant to get that when he’s unconscious?” Lily muttered, but James didn’t answer. Draco wasn’t sure he even heard her.

“And,” James paused for a few heartbeats, Draco’s fingers tightened again. “The potion requires a sacrifice, not a life, but another witch or wizard’s magical signature.”

“What does that mean James? What does it mean?” Albus asked frantically. The trembling stopped. Draco could feel the tension now, coiled and ready to detonate.

James’s look to his brother was full of sorrow. “There’s an incantation which, according to the writer, allows the magic from one body to be extracted and placed into another. They said that this extra magic, combined with the potion, is enough to overwhelm whatever dark curse or spell has been cast, making the individual too powerful to succumb to it. They said that combining power like that would be enough to cure any curse by overwhelming it.”

There was a moment of silence before James continued. “We think it’s never been tried before because this is a pure-blood family diary, losing their magic would have been an unthinkable sacrifice, even to save a life.”

“Theoretically, it could work,” Polly said from her position in the corner of the room. She was separated a bit from the others, distancing herself from the grieved family members but making sure she could hear and understand everything.

“I’ll do it,” Albus said, not a waver or hint of hesitation to his voice.

Noises of protest rose like an orchestra. Draco’s own whine and squeeze of Albus’s shoulder caused him to look up. Draco saw only determination in his eyes.

Polly raised her arms and her voice, trying to quiet them. “We need to bear in mind that we don’t know any of the risks. We don’t know if it will work, we don’t know what the effects of removing someone’s magic is. It’s never been done. It could… it could be fatal.”

“I understand. I’ll still do it.”

Harry and Ginny shared a terrified glance; Lily looked as if she wanted to jump to her feet and knock some sense into her brother, but doing that would wake Aurora so she just bristled in the chair instead; and James looked resigned, not at all surprised, eyes shiny with tears. Draco didn’t want to know what his own face was doing.

“Albus no, that would mean there’s a chance we could lose both of you. You can’t…” Ginny trailed off, stepping forward to grab both of Albus’s forearms, but not forcing him to pull away from Scorpius. She stared into his eyes; Draco felt Albus’s shoulder raise with a deep, wobbly breath under his palm. “Aurora can’t lose you both like this.”

But Albus was already shaking his head. “I need to, please, we need to try this.” There was no tremble to his voice, no words that caught on sobs hiding in his throat.

Draco’s fingers curled tight around his shoulder again. “She’s right Albus, it’s too much of a risk for you.”

“Maybe if we had some time to do more research on it, run some tests…” Polly started, but the noises of dissent quickly cut her off.  

“No, we don’t have any more time,” Harry said.

Draco swallowed. “Anyway, it has to be me. I’m the only one who can do this.”

“Draco…” Albus twisted as much as he could in his seat to try and catch his eye. Draco avoided it.

“Aurora needs you. But nobody needs me, not in the way you all are needed. I can’t—“ his voice broke, “I can’t watch him die. I can’t feel his hand go limp in mine and watch his life escape from him. Not again, not my boy.”

“We do need you Draco, you’re part of our family now,” Lily said.

Draco almost smiled. “I appreciate the sentiment, I really do. I would never have thought I’d look at a gathering of Potters and feel, deep down to my bones, that I belonged there with them. What you’ve done for me, for Scorpius, for Aurora, it’s something I’m still astounded by. But none of you can take the risk. I can.”

Draco didn’t feel sad at the realisation, instead a sweeping calm rolled over him knowing there was finally something he could do for Scorpius. He knew he was loved and appreciated. He knew he brought smiles and laughter to so many more lives than he ever would have thought. He had lived with more happiness after losing Astoria than he would have believed possible, because of the people standing here in this room. But he’d been helpless at the bedside when death came reaping before, and he would not do it again.

“My son is dying, and I am his father. I will do anything, _anything_ , to prevent it,” Draco said, courage and fear pulsing with his words. Looking around at the faces painted with resignation and anguish, he thinks everyone understands.

“Maybe there’s another way, something else we could find,” Lily said again, because despite everything she was always trying to find a better solution. 

Draco was surprised when “No,” came out from his mouth and James’s.

James cleared his throat. “No, we’re running out of time. He’s only staying alive because of the phoenix tears. We need to do something soon. We took this long to find the diary, we’re not going to get anything else. This is our only option.”

“Listen,” Draco said, “If removing magic is fatal, but it works, then Scorpius will be safe, and if it doesn’t work and we both die then… well at least I’ll never have to live in a world without him.”

Albus’s hand reached up to cover his own. Draco finally met his gaze. Their shared look indicated so much, spoke more than any words could say.

“I know you all understand.”

And they did, every one of them. Because if it had been their own child in the situation, they wouldn’t even stop to think for a second what the effects might be. Knowing it could heal them, keep them safe, keep them alive–it was worth more than anything. No one would stop Draco, try to talk him out of it. They all knew it would only waste precious minutes, would make no difference.

Draco didn’t want to live in a world where his kind, beautiful, brilliant son wasn’t by his side. Couldn’t even fathom it, even now. To Draco, his own death didn’t seem like such a risk, not if there was a chance it could save his boy.

There were a few moments of silence, but Draco knew nobody was going to interrupt it to volunteer in his place.

When the silence was broken it was by Polly. “If we’re going to try this, Draco is the best option.” Draco’s eyebrows raised. “There’s been a lot of research into magical signatures in the past few years, and evidence that a part of an individual’s unique signature comes from their magical parent or parents. It’s not fully substantiated, but I think, if we want to give this the best chance of working, it has to be Scorpius’s father. Maybe the closeness of his magic to Scorpius’s will allow them to combine easier, or… something. I don’t actually know if it would help in this situation. I don’t know anything about this situation,” she ended with a sigh.

“No, that’s a good theory,” James agreed.

“I can have the base potion ready in half an hour, I’ll just need to source some of the moly plant,” Polly said.

“And while you’re doing that we can get Scorpius’s patronus memory. I know a way,” Harry said with a nod.

“Then Albus will get Tempest to reincarnate,” Ginny added, knowing that the bird would do so without pause. “We’ll get the ashes.”

“And then, we’ll do the spell,” Draco finished.

His gaze lingered for a second on everyone in the room before they landed on Scorpius’s face. He was pale and sickly beneath the ventilator charm, his eyes flickered every so often under the closed lids. Draco stepped round Albus’s chair, stopping when his legs were pressed against the hospital bed, and extended a hand.

“Half an hour,” James repeated.

Draco ran a hand through his son’s hair. Half an hour to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Draco makes me sad (although my sister would say it's actually me making myself sad!)
> 
> I've just moved and started a new job so updates might be less frequent since I'm going to be super, super busy with life, but I promise I will finish this, might just take a bit of time. Thanks to you all who have stuck with this!


	12. 12

To get Scorpius’s happiest memory—to steal it—Harry knew a spell. It would activate parts of the brain related to memory without waking him up. It had been developed for the aurors, to look at their memories of events that had led to them being unconscious, especially when they were the only survivor. Harry had extensive training when it was first introduced, had even performed it a couple of times on his men. He was the closest thing to an expert there was, he’d begrudgingly admit. But even so Harry didn’t know the details of how it worked; it was created by people much smarter than him. All he knew was the incantation and how to search through memories for the one he needed.

“But how will you know which memory it is?” Albus asked. His son looked exhausted, permanent tear tracks seemed to stain his cheeks and Harry hated how broken he was. He understood it, of course he did; Scorpius was his everything. Things were still tense between them, with Harry’s mistake and Albus’s bitterness lingering, but Albus needed to trust him to be able to do this.

“A patronus memory has this quality to it, I don’t know how to describe it but it’s shiner, it seems brighter than the others.”

“I hate we have to take this from him. I hate the thought of him not remembering it ever again,” Lily sighed, causing Harry’s gaze to sweep from his pursed-lipped son to messy-haired daughter.

Harry hadn’t told anyone about Noah yet, not even Ginny. When he got to the hospital everything was so chaotic, everyone spun into action by James’s finding. He would tell them after they’d given Scorpius the potion and performed the incantation. They couldn’t afford distractions just now, and the knowledge he had wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait.

Glancing at Albus he wondered if he was making another bad decision, keeping something from him. Even though they didn’t know if Noah was involved, even if they hadn’t got the results back yet, they had their suspicions. But waiting until they had confirmation of whether Noah was related to Aurora or not would save everyone guessing and stressing over it. Harry was doing this to prevent more tension and worrying. It was a good thing. He had to work hard to convince himself.

“I think, maybe before we get started with all this, someone should take Aurora out of the room. She doesn’t need to be here when we try the magic transfer, if something goes wrong…” Harry didn’t need to finish the thought out loud.

Lily, whose fingers were stroking through Aurora’s hair, instantly piped up. “I’ll take her. I don’t mind not being here, I’m not needed so I’d just get in the way.”

“Thank you Lily,” Albus said with a twisted voice, chin wobbling again.

Lily nodded before gently waking Aurora with some soft words and strokes of her hand. They watched her, still half-asleep, give Scorpius a massive hug, burrowing into him as much as she could but being gentle so not to hurt him.

In the quiet of the room Albus’s harsh intake of breath sounded impossibly loud. He stood from his chair, curling himself over the both of them, feeling them both in his embrace. Harry wanted to reach out, the way he always did when he saw his child in pain, but knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything to help.

Harry watched Lily ease Aurora down from the bed, grabbing her hand and leading her calmly out the room. As soon as they were no longer in sight Harry took the few steps required to reach the side of Scorpius’s bed.

He pursed his lips as his wand hovered over Scorpius, glancing at Draco, who gave him a nod, and then Albus, who wasn’t looking at him but had his eyes still trained onto Scorpius’s features. Careful not to get to close to Tempest, Harry took a deep breath and cast the spell.

Entering someone’s memories was always strange; Harry would never get used to it. He knew what he was looking for, so he brushed passed any that didn’t have the shimmering that identified the patronus memory.

Harry didn’t linger at them, didn’t stop to let them play out, but he felt the overall signature coming from them. Scorpius was full of so much light, so much happiness. There was anguish in there too; pain, anxiety, grief. But those seemed so tiny, so surmounted by all the good inside him. Love pulsed out of them in almost perceptible waves.

When he finally found what he was looking for, the glistening memory floating lazily into view as if by accident, Harry wasted no time grabbing onto it. Extracting the memory was complicated but Harry was trained well, and he began the process.

As he did, the memory started to play.

They were in Malfoy Manor. Harry was seeing it through Scorpius’s eyes; it was strange, it seemed almost like a different place to what Harry saw when he walked through the halls.

The room was filled with family—Scorpius’s family. Albus was smiling at Aurora, crouched down and talking to her with wide eyes and that beaming grin they saw so often. Draco was there, handing out cake to all the Potters who were congregated under the Happy Birthday Aurora banner. There was a portrait of Astoria, large and bright on the wall behind Draco. Her soft smile and kind eyes caught in the paint.

Harry felt a surge in his heart, the happiness that was beating itself round Scorpius so strong it was bleeding out to him as he delicately untangled the memory.

Scorpius’s happiest moment was being surrounded by family and laughter. Harry wouldn’t have expected anything else.

By the time Harry’s eyes snapped open, the silvery tendrils of the memory attached to the end of his wand, Polly had wheeled in an extra bed, situating it next to Scorpius’s.

James held out a cauldron and Harry positioned the memory above it before giving the wood of his wand a few taps, watching it dislodge and float easily into the liquid. While Harry was searching for the memory Albus must have gotten Tempest to reincarnate, as the place where he had been perched was empty.

“The phoenix?” Harry asked James, stopping him from turning by grabbing his wrist.

“We got the ashes,” James lifted up the cauldron, the liquid turning silver with the addition of the memory, “and then Albus let him go.”

Harry startled. “But what if this doesn’t… what if we need…”

“We all know that if this fails, there won’t be anything to save Scorpius. Albus promised the woman that once we’d used Tempest he’d set him free.”

James pulled away without waiting for a reply, setting the cauldron down on a trolley next to Scorpius’s bed. Harry took a moment to mourn the memory; he was now the only person who would ever remember the scene the way it looked from Scorpius’s eyes. But Harry knew that Scorpius was filled with so much happiness that he’d be able to choose another memory to summon his patronus if he lived.

Harry mentally berated himself, thinking of ‘if’ instead of ‘when’. They were going to do this, and it was going to work, and both Malfoys were going to be fine. Harry blinked back tears as he watched Draco speak to Polly, head dipped and brow furrowed.

As if sensing him watching, and perhaps he did, Draco turned to Harry and held out his hand; a proper gesture for a strong handshake. Harry rolled his eyes, batting the hand away and pulling him in for a hug. Harry felt Draco stiffen slightly before his hands slowly crept up to touch his shoulder blades. It felt right.

Harry watched him hug Ginny, then James, and Albus for twice as long with ten times the intensity. He pulled a folded letter from his pocket, pressed it into Albus’s hand. Albus cried and Draco lifted a hand to softly wipe his tears away. They pulled each other close again; had a whole conversation in whispers and hitches of breaths and strangled chokes. 

When he pulled away Draco grabbed Albus’s hand, turning to look at Scorpius. Harry knew Albus was squeezing tight, providing what comfort he could, no matter how insignificant and miniscule it might have felt. Draco cupped Scorpius’s face, leant forward to place a lingering kiss on his forehead, staying draped in that position for longer than could be comfortable. But nobody said anything, nobody rushed him, they let him have his tear-stained goodbye as another part of his heart splintered and crumbled.

As soon as Draco lay down on the new bed, Polly quickly hooked him up to machines; checking monitors, injecting needles, and softly speaking a spell as she swept her wand over him.

Everyone was silent, the only sound the beeping from Scorpius’s heart monitor. The beeping that was starting to slow down slightly, now that the tears weren’t holding back the curse.

James was consulting the diary, mouth moving as he read but no audible words coming out. A sudden spike of Scorpius’s heartbeat made Draco say: “We need to do this now.”

James hesitated, finger skimming over words as he looked up from the diary to meet Draco’s eye.

“We do the magic transfer first, then give him the potion. If we did it the other way round the curse would just burn through the potion and it would be useless.”

Draco nodded. Albus stood up to his side, picking up his hand and holding it in both of his.

“We love you Draco,” he said, and everyone was quick to add in their own statement of sentiment. It wasn’t goodbye though.

“You’re a wonderful Dad, and me and Scorpius have appreciated every ounce of support and love you gave us over the years.”

Draco smiled at that. “Thank you for making my son so happy. For making me happy. You’re one of a kind Albus Potter,” he reached up and flattened his hand over Albus’s chest, “You have such a kind heart. Don’t ever lose it.”

“I won’t,” Albus choked out a promise.

James took his position at the end of the bed. Polly moved to be beside the potion, ready to administer it to Scorpius as soon as the transfer was done.

James raised his wand.

“Wait!” Draco called out, just as James’s mouth had opened. It clamped shut so quickly he must have bit his tongue.

“I can’t see him. Can you… can you just move me so I can see him?”

James and Albus almost tripped over each other as they manoeuvred the bed and Draco’s sitting position until he could see his son. As soon as he could, Draco exhaled a deep breath.

“Okay, I’m ready now.”

James raised his wand again. He opened his mouth. This time, nobody stopped him.

He read out the words, his voice taking on an eerie tone as the words curled around each other, a mix of English, Latin, and a language Harry couldn’t quite place. His wand alternated between being pointed at Draco and being pointed at Scorpius.

He kept talking, and everyone was staring at Draco, who was staring at Scorpius. Harry’s eyes were drawn to a twitch of Draco’s finger; some dust or perhaps left over ash that floated through the air to land on Draco’s leg.

James read out the incantation. He stopped, swallowed hard. Looked up at Draco, back down to the diary, then up again.

Nothing had happened.

Harry’s stomach sunk, not actually believing that this would ever fail. He saw Albus tense, heard Ginny shuffling as she stepped up to his back, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Nothing happened. Until, suddenly, it did.

Draco let out a heavy, chesty cough, doubled over from where he had been sitting up against the headboard. When he straightened himself, there was blood trailing his mouth, blood splattered on the white hospital sheets.

“Draco!” Albus shouted, but his eyes had glazed over.

The next second they had rolled to the back of his head and Draco’s whole body was thrashing.

“He’s seizing!” Polly called out as she abandoned the cauldron, rushing over to Draco’s side and lowering the bed so it was flat.

But by the time she got there was not a muscle twitching. He was sickeningly still.

Albus let out a broken whisper of “Draco?”

The whole room held their breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while and it's so bad I'm sorry! Turns out having a full-time job for the first time in your life means you're super tired all the time? Not sure how long it'll be till the next chapter because I'm also away travelling next week so might be two weeks until I manage to upload anything. If you are still reading, thank you so much! At this point I feel like I'm finishing this just for myself because I don't like leaving things incomplete, but if you are still sticking with me I really do appreciate it! Thank you all xoxo


	13. 13

Albus felt like his heart had stopped. He knew it hadn’t; knew it was probably racing in his trembling body right now. But the overwhelming fear that had been vibrating just under the surface flooded forward as soon as Draco’s body went limp against the sheets.

Albus forced himself to suck in a breath, but he felt as if he was choking on the air; that it was lodged in his throat and suffocating him instead of keeping him alive.

Polly was frantically picking up tubes and glancing at numbers on the monitors. Albus’s bottom lip quivered as her eyes narrowed at one of the screens, her distress evident.

There was a moment where Albus truly felt like he was going to throw up as he thought: _I’m really going to lose him, lose them both._

“Polly?” Albus questioned, choking on the word the same way he had the air.

“I—”

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as she stumbled back a step. In turn, everyone else in the room took a step forward. She was staring at Draco’s chest. Albus twisted to try and see what she had noticed, but failed to catch a glimpse of anything.

“What is…” she trailed off as a shimmering, undulating light sprung out of Draco’s chest, forcing Albus to lift his arm to shield his eyes from the brightness.

He had never seen anything like it. The closest comparison he could give was to the bright animal of a patronus. But this light was more solid. It was like staring into a burning star. It didn’t have one colour; seemed to blink between pink and orange and blue and purple and white and silver with every surge. It was almost like water, the way it seemed to flicker in waves.

Albus didn’t know what it meant.

“Did it work?” Albus’s voice was shaky; the question coming out almost reluctantly, as if he didn’t want to jinx anything.

Before anyone could figure out how to reply, the light suddenly contracted. Then, between one blink and the next, it was expanding; darting across the room and plunging itself into Scorpius’s chest. There was a rainbow of light connecting the Malfoys. Albus’s mouth fell open as he squinted against the bright glare.

Polly raced over to Scorpius’s side, eyes flickering once again over numbers and lines that made no sense to Albus.

Albus didn’t know how long had passed, it was probably no longer than a minute, but time had lost all meaning to him at this point. As abruptly as it had erupted, the light simply vanished.

Polly’s hand lowered, was hovering just above Scorpius’s dreadfully pale skin when he started thrashing.

There was a strangled shout. Albus didn’t realise it had come from him until he let out another, throat feeling hoarse from all the crying he had done.

Scorpius’s body twisted itself into a position where he was curled into himself. A second later his limbs were flailing, back arching off the bed as his head rolled from side to side. It reminded Albus of Scorpius being tortured with the cruciatus. The same helpless, hopeless, desperate feeling made Albus take a step forward, drawn to the scene that was a replay of a moment that still haunted him to this day. A hand grabbed onto his shoulder before he could take another step closer, and Albus let his mum pull him back slightly.

“You can’t get too close, we don’t know what could happen,” Ginny said softly, hand stroking Albus’s skin as he almost vibrated with the anxiety that was coursing through him.

“I… I can’t… I need to…”

“I know,” Ginny replied tenderly. “I know.”

The grip she had on him wasn’t strong enough that he couldn’t have shrugged it off if he really tried. But he didn’t. Instead of trying to reach Scorpius he collapsed into his mum, who almost stumbled from his weight. But she didn’t fall. Albus knew she wouldn’t. Because she was the pillar he could always count on.

Albus watched as Polly strapped Scorpius’s arms down, then his legs. It didn’t stop whatever was happening, Scorpius was still wriggling about on the bed, but it meant he wouldn’t injure himself. Albus’s brain knew that, logically. But seeing Scorpius like this, restraints straining as his arms tried to escape them, face white and twisted with pain—it broke his heart.

Albus wondered how many times his heart could break before it just stopped working altogether.

“Polly, give him the potion,” James said, hands still clutching the diary.

Polly almost tripped as she scrambled to grab it.

“Do the instructions say anything about how to administer it?” she asked, pausing at Scorpius’s side and looking across to James.

He shook his head. “No, there’s nothing.”

“Well, we’ll go for the classic route.”

She quickly raised Scorpius’s bed slightly so he was sitting up a bit, enough that when she managed to still his head and tip it back, the potion flowed easily down his throat.

Instantly Scorpius stopped struggling. The monitors around him kept their steady melody of beeping so Albus knew he was still alive, but, much like Draco, he was lying on the bed eerily still.

“Now we wait,” Polly said, with a flick of her hand motioning Albus forward.

His legs moved on autopilot, and before he realised what was happening he was sat in between the two beds, one of Scorpius’s hands and one of Draco’s clutched tightly in his own. He was connecting the Malfoys, sitting there, loving them both, and hoping that would be enough.

***

It had been almost an hour before Scorpius’s machines started going haywire. Polly had stayed in the room, being cautiously optimistic as Scorpius’s numbers began improving. His heart rate stabilised, his blood pressure returned to within normal range, and his oxygen saturation was improving with every moment.

So when the harsh beeping started Albus’s stomach dropped; chest tightened; breath stopped. He thought their luck had run out after all.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Polly rushed out, waving her wand and removing the bubble charm that had been helping Scorpius breathe. “This is great, he’s able to breathe on his own now. The body didn’t like that it was trying to be controlled by the spell which caused that reaction, but this is actually a wonderful thing. He’s stable now.”

“Stable.” One word had never meant so much to Albus before.

Harry pulled Ginny into a tight hug as James’s head fell into his hands.

Stable.

“So he’s going to be okay?” Albus asked, voice still tinged with apprehension.

Polly smiled at him, sincere. “I’m not making any promises, but this recovery this fast? I think it’s safe to say that the spell and potion are doing their job.”

The relief hit Albus like a stunning spell, and if he hadn’t already been sitting down his legs would have buckled beneath him. He couldn’t stop the sob that tore itself out of him as he lifted Scorpius’s hand up to kiss the knuckles, painting his skin with tears. He then did the same with Draco’s, which wasn’t missed by anyone.

“No change is a good thing for Draco,” Polly repeated again, the same words she had been saying every time anyone would ask. “Just give him time. His body went through a lot of stress. It needs time to recover too.”

The room fell into silence after that, for a while at least. A tapping broke them all out of their thoughts. Harry stood and crossed over to the window, and when he opened it a letter fell from the beak of an owl, drifting to the floor before taking off. He barely had any time to look at the bird before it vanished.

Harry frowned as he bent down and picked the letter up off the floor. He moved back over to Ginny, handing her the paper wordlessly.

Albus forced himself to swallow, his mouth suddenly feeling unnaturally dry.

Once she had read the words she looked up at Albus, her brow furrowed and eyes sad.

“What does it say?” Albus asked, leaning forward in the chair but not willing to let go of the Malfoys’ hands.

Harry and Ginny shared a look, a wordless argument happening between them.

They looked back at Albus at the exact same moment.

Ginny cleared her throat. “Albus. Bring Aurora, and no-one else. Or you’ll lose everyone. Then there’s an address.”

“It’s from them, whoever did this.” Albus growl was laced with malice. He had only ever felt this burn of hatred once before.

“But Scorpius is stable now. We don’t need their cure,” James pointed out.  

“But they don’t know that. They’re expecting me to be desperate, to plead and beg to save him.”

James stood from his seat and began pacing. “I don’t know how anyone could ever think you’d give Aurora over.”

“I do,” Polly said, making all eyes turn to her. She directed her next words to Albus. “You and Scorpius, you’re soulmates. Literally every witch and wizard knows of the love that you share, of everything you’ve gone through, of how strong your bond is. And if someone has never adopted a child of their own, has never learned to love them as much as they would a biological child, they might not understand why you would chose Aurora over Scorpius. Whoever is doing this doesn’t seem to realise how much you both love her, how both of you would do anything to protect her.”

“I need to go to the meeting.”

Nobody acted surprised at Albus’s words, but the exhales of breath all sounded exasperated.

Albus carried on. “I have to do this. They’re not going to stop. The only way to keep Aurora safe is to bring this person in. Whoever they are, we can’t let them just walk away. Scorpius…” Albus’s voice broke. “Scorpius could have been dead if it weren’t for a series of lucky miracles. We need to stop them.”

“If you turn up without Aurora they could kill you.”

“If I do nothing they will just find some other way to attack us. More people will get hurt in their attempts to take her. No, I won’t give them Aurora but I also won’t just stay here and hope that they’ll stop. They’ve gone to this much effort, they’re not going to give up. Not ever.”

Harry opened his mouth, probably to try and talk Albus out of it, when James let out a shout. In a second he was by Harry’s side, tearing the letter from his grip.

“I recognise this stamp,” he said, finger tracing over the emblem on the paper. “I remember seeing it on something when I was looking through the archives. It’s from an old family. I can’t quite remember the name…”

“I can pull records if we have a name,” Harry spoke up, reaching out to grab James’s shoulder. “I can find out who the living members of the family are.” His fingers tightened.

Albus sucked in a breath. “You mean you might be able to find out who this was?”

“Yes, I think so,” Harry replied, already reaching for his jacket.

“Go, quickly. Then get back here as fast as you can. If we can go in with an advantage… Albus will have the upper hand.”

Harry paused by Ginny as James scrambled to the door. “We’re not letting him do this alone, are we?”

Ginny cupped his face. “Of course not. He’ll never be alone Harry. Everything will be okay.”

“I’m not sure I share your optimism,” he huffed, shrugging his arms into his jacket.

“He’ll be okay,” Ginny repeated. “Now go,” she gave him a push towards the door.

“We’ll be back as quick as we can.”

Albus met his Dad’s eyes just before he surged out the room. For the first time since this nightmare started, he saw hope in them.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! 
> 
> Getting into the home stretch of this story now... I can't believe Scorpius is my favourite character to write and I made him unconscious for half of this asdfghjkl I played myself. Hope you guys are still enjoying reading it!


	14. 14

As Harry’s feet touched down in his office he was already ahead in his brain, picturing the charmed lineage book that sat locked away in one of his drawers. He knew exactly where it was, knew that it would hold the answer to this. Once James found the name he would be able to find out who this wizard was that caused his family so much heartache and pain.

“Harry!” A voice shouted, obviously having heard his entrance. A moment later one of his aurors appeared at the door.

“Not now, I’m—”

“We got the test results back, for that boy.”

Noah. Harry’s feet tripped over each other as he spun around. He couldn’t read the auror’s face, couldn’t glean anything from her expression.

“It wasn’t a match. The two samples didn’t belong to the same family.”

If he had been told this half an hour ago, Harry would have felt equal parts relieved and disappointed, because it would have put them back to square one with no leads whatsoever. But now, with his son ricocheting through the corridors below him to get the name, he could let the relief fully wash over him. Noah wasn’t Aurora’s brother. It didn’t clear him completely, but Harry’s gut was telling him that whoever was behind this was related to her, so in his mind Noah was innocent. He couldn’t even bring himself to worry that Noah might retaliate for this. He was only doing what was best for his family, and Harry thinks Noah knows that. He’s just glad that he won’t have to tell Lily that her boyfriend was the one who hurt Scorpius, her brother by bond not birth.

“There are some interesting things in this report though,” Marli said, and Harry motioned for her to follow him to his office. He needed to get the book.

Marli kept talking as they entered the room, Harry immediately crossing over to his desk. “So, the wizard who ran this test, they took the initiative to compare your given sample, the one you’re trying to match to, with other samples we have on the database. It’s not extensive, this kind of muggle science was only brought in a few years ago, but there are some similarities in the DNA to suggest that…” Marli trailed off, going from confident to hesitant in the space of a couple of words.

Harry looked up from his rummaging, fingers stinging from paper cuts as he feverishly rifled through papers.

“What is it Marli?” he asked calmly.

She met his eyes before averting her gaze, scuffing her shoe along the floor. She took a breath and looked back up. “It says that Aurora has some markers that match Gaunt blood. She has Gaunt in her ancestry.”

Harry’s legs, already trembling slightly from being crouched like this at his age, gave out underneath him. He tried to grab onto his chair but just sent it careering across the room instead.

He barely heard Marli’s concerned exclaims, his mind was spinning, he couldn’t catch a breath. His hands raised to scratch at his throat. He couldn’t breathe.

Because there was only one person alive who had Gaunt blood running through their veins. And this couldn’t be her. It just couldn’t. Not after all this time, not after she caused so much pain when Albus and Scorpius had just been boys. It couldn’t be.

Hands grabbed at his and pulled them away from where they had been clutching his own throat. Marli was in front of him, telling him to breathe. She had never seen Harry have a panic attack before. The only person who had was Avery, mostly because she just seemed to always be around him due to the nature of her job. She knew what to do. But Marli didn’t, so Harry tried to scramble back, out of her grip that felt suffocating.

His skin was covered in pinpricks, he had to force himself to swallow. The only word he could get out was the name.

“Delphi?”

Marli’s brow furrowed.

Harry forced out more words. “Delphi is the mother?”

Her eyes widened, and she immediately started vigorously shaking her head.

“No, no Harry. Merlin, sorry, I didn’t think. It’s a weak match, diluted. This Gaunt was from generations ago, at least 3 or 4 they think.”

Harry’s lungs suddenly filled again and he choked. He could already feel his heart starting to cease its rabbiting.

Marli continued, a flash of relief appearing as she noticed Harry was calming down. “Didn’t Voldemort’s mother have a brother? He’s probably the most likely option. Got some girl pregnant that he kept a secret or didn’t know about.”

Harry couldn’t help but let out an exasperated huff of breath at that. _Another secret baby,_ he thought. _I do not need any more secret babies._

“I’m sorry Harry, I should have thought, with the history of Delphi and your—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Harry brushed her off.

“Delphi has been locked up since you caught her Harry. She can’t have had any children.”

Harry nodded, knowing that if he had been thinking logically his brain would have provided him with that fact.

“I just thought it was interesting, that’s all.” She still looked guilty.

At that moment James apparated into the room, his cheeks were flushed and he was waving a sheet of paper about.

“Dad! What are you doing on the floor?”

Harry scrambled to his feet, ignoring the question. Marli jumped out the way as he surged to the drawer.

“Marli, can you please go and find Feildwake?” As joint head of magical law enforcement Harry supposed he should be kept in the loop if they found something.

“Yes Sir,” she replied with a nod before hurrying from the room.

Harry’s fingers curled around the leather bound book and he tore it out, slapping it onto the desk.

James crossed the room to stand at the opposite side of the desk to Harry.

“Vance. That’s the family name,” he said, thrusting the letter so Harry could see the seal and the signature.

The name tickled at Harry’s brain, a familiarity that he couldn’t quite place trying to leap out.

He curled his fingers around the front cover of the book, carefully prising it open. The dusty, cream-coloured pages started back at him. They were blank.

Harry trailed his fingers over the page as he spoke the word. “Vance.”

As soon as he did the words started to appear, curled letter one at a time. After a few seconds there was a family tree on the left hand page. James scurried around the table to stand by his side, wanting to be able to read the names too.

Harry’s eyes trailed down until he got to the most recent level of the tree. There was only one name. Parker Vance.

“That date of birth, it’s the year before I was born. That would make more sense if this guy was Aurora’s father instead of brother,” James pointed out.

Harry nodded his agreement as the image started to materialise on the opposite page. The book was charmed to show a picture of the living members of the family. As, little by little, the colours and lines took shape, it was clear this was only one person.

Harry’s hands clutched at the wood of his desk; his heart was racing with anticipation.

They would finally see the face of the man who had cursed Scorpius. They would finally know who did this.

But Harry’s eyes narrowed and brow furrowed as the image became more clear. Because this wasn’t a man, this was a woman.

Both he and James found themselves leaning forward, as if it would somehow give them more clarification or speed up the process.

Harry did recall Scorpius mention a woman, an unknown student he had helped just moments before he had been cursed. They had dismissed her, because he didn’t mention seeing her after the pain of the curse hitting. But it would have been easy for her to cast from a distance and slip out before Scorpius had even realised what was going on.

He could kick himself for having an answer there so close all this time. He bit his lip, felt James tense beside him as the image finally materialised on the page.

And Harry’s legs almost gave out for the second time.

Because he knew that face. The one staring up at him from the page.

It was cheerful and open and warm.

Harry’s hand flew up to cover his mouth that had fallen open with shock.

This face greeted him every morning when he walked through the door.

Brought him coffee with a pen tucked behind her ear.

This face clamped up with sadness and pain every time Harry had mentioned her daughter.

Now he knew why.

Because his administrative assistant wasn’t Avery Diaz.

She was Parker Vance. And she wanted her daughter back. 

She wanted Aurora.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it hasn't been too long that you don't remember Avery! You could always go back a read a couple of chapters if you're confused about who she is! 
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading, and kudos and comments are so greatly appreciated :)


	15. 15

James’s foot tapped relentlessly against the cold floor. He sucked in a breath, picked at his nails, bit his lip, and his foot kept tapping.

His mum and dad had gone with Albus. The plan they had concocted seemed sensible, logical, like it had the chance of going right. But there were so many assumptions, so many unknowns, and James knew how things like this usually turned out.

Albus was going to go to the meeting point and try to talk to Parker. Parker, who had been at the hospital, who had lingered just outside Scorpius’s hospital room. James supressed a shudder at the thought of how close she had been, his eyes swivelling to the door on their own accord, as if they thought she might be out there this very second.

But she wasn’t. It was just him and the two Malfoys now, here in this abnormally white room. Polly had been rushed away to another emergency; Lily was still with Aurora. So here James was, sitting vigil in the spot Albus had been loathed to give up, his face pinched with a pain and yearning and heartache that would stay seared in James’s mind for a long time to come. He never wanted to see Albus look like that again, would take any amount of hurt himself if it would stop it.

“Albus…”

James’s head snapped up at the weak moan of his brother’s name.

He quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing onto Scorpius’s searching hand as soon as it was within reach, knowing he wasn’t the Potter that Scorpius wanted, but hoping to provide some comfort anyway.

“Hey, Scorpius,” he said softly.  

A sweet smile bloomed on Scorpius’s face. “Albus?” His voice was stronger now, more sure.

“No, it’s James,” he replied, lips mirroring the frown that Scorpius gave at the declaration.  “How are you feeling? You gave us all such a scare.”

Scorpius gave a groan as he blinked his eyes a few times. His gaze moved from James to look around the room.

“Albus? Aurora?” Scorpius’s voice was full of panic, eyes wide as his nails dug into James’s skin, scrambling to sit up on the bed.

James tried to soothe him, gently saying “They’re fine. They’re both okay.”

But then Scorpius’s eyes landed on Draco, still pale and unmoving on the bed beside them.

“Dad?” Scorpius screamed, and James had to physically push him back as he tried to leap off his bed. Scorpius fought against him, but he was weak, barely exerted any pressure at all.

James met Scorpius fear-filled eyes. “What’s going on?” he asked, breath coming in short bursts, panic evident in every gasp, every attempt to struggle.

“Calm down Scorpius, please,” James tried, but Scorpius wasn’t listening, was still trying to swing his legs round to the side.  

“No, you can’t get out of bed. Scorpius…” James’s voice took on a hint of desperation as Scorpius bent over at the waist, hand clutching at his arm. The movement was obviously hurting him.

“Merlin why did he have to wake up when it’s just me here. Anyone else he would listen to, but not me,” James muttered to himself.

But it seemed as though the pain had interrupted the panic, not that it was any better for the boy who should always be lit with love. But at least he had stopped wriggling. At least James hadn’t been forced to resort to a spell to keep him in bed.

James gently pulled the blanket back over Scorpius as his head thumped against the headboard, glistening eyes not straying from Draco for one second.

“What happened to him?” The words were paired with a twitch of the fingers, a small jerk of the hand as if he forced himself to hold back at the last moment. Even if he had reached out, Draco’s bed was too far away to make contact.

“It’s a really long story. Long and complicated.”

James knew the words would be no use, providing neither comfort nor explanation.

“I need to see Aurora. I need to see Albus.”

James paused. It’s the worst thing he could have done. He saw the panic return with a vengeance, like a roaring wave three times his height careening into him.

Before James could open his mouth to tell him what was happening Scorpius’s hand had flown out, grabbing onto his wrist.

Scorpius was staring at him with wide eyes, the fear reflecting out of them. James had never seen anything like it. He thought he had known fear, but this was different. This was pure terror; clawing, gnawing, overtaking.

James swallowed as he clutched onto Scorpius. “Aurora’s fine. She’s with Lily.”

There was a small release, a curl in of the shoulders, a huff of breath. But he didn’t relax for long, didn’t let himself feel that relief for more than a couple of seconds before he was asking again.

“Albus?”

James couldn’t even be surprised by how many times his brother’s name had come out of Scorpius’s mouth since he woke up.

James opened his mouth before snapping it closed without saying anything. Not sure where to start. Not sure what to say.

Scorpius just stared at him, eyes shimmering with tears, lips pursed. When he spoke, his voice was sharper than James had been expecting. “Tell me where he is.”

James couldn’t evade any more. Not with such a direct question.

So he had to explain. He told Scorpius about the phoenix, the cure, how his dad helped with it (but he didn’t go into specifics of just how much Draco had given). Scorpius’s eyes fluttered closed as he shook his head, mumbling something under his breath.

He told him about Avery being Parker, how she was Aurora’s birth mother, how Albus was going to meet her.

“Is he insane?” Scorpius exclaimed, hands flying up into the air before he grimaced and lowered them gently. His eyes narrowed at James. “Are you insane? How could you let him do this?”

“Dad’s got aurors close by, they’ll be only a couple seconds away,” James tried to explain, averting his gaze, unable to see that look on Scorpius’s face directed at him. Not that it made him feel it less, he could still sense the disappointment.  

“That’s long enough for the killing spell to hit him,” Scorpius said, the words not shouted, but delivered in a bitter, almost hostile tone. “She’ll just kill him on sight. If he doesn’t have Aurora she’s just going to kill him.”

James couldn’t help but feel guilty, even though he knew there was nothing anyone could have done to stop Albus from going. At least this way he’ll have the back up.

“Have some faith. You came as close to death as you possibly could, yet here you are. You’re alive. Albus knows that, he’s fighting for you; for you and Aurora.”

Scorpius sighed. “I need to go and help him…”

James rolled his eyes as he once again yanked the blanket off and swung his legs round to the side of the bed. “Scorpius,” he said softly, “What you need to do is lie down.”

“I can’t just lie down when Albus is out there facing a monster, my dad is lying pale and still beside me, and my daughter in danger!” Scorpius was on his feet now, managing to shuffle forward a couple of steps. But he winced with every movement, and James watch as he bit his lip and held onto the bar of the bed to keep upright.

“You were as good as dead,” James bit out, thinking that Scorpius didn’t really understand how close it had been, how Albus had almost had to say goodbye to him forever.

With a wince Scorpius lifted his head to meet his eyes.

“Look at you, you can barely stand,” James continued, motioning to Scorpius’s trembling thighs. “You can’t go anywhere except back into bed.”

Scorpius hung his head, hand still curled around the rail of the bed. When he spoke again, it wasn’t what James had been expecting. “I need to see Aurora.”

“Yes, I can send a message to Lily, they’re not far, they’ll be able to get here really quickly.”

Scorpius smiled at him.

But James should have known this situation wasn’t one of compliance.

Because almost as soon as he had pulled his wand out and turned his back to get ready to send a patronus, he heard a stumble, a crash and an exclamation of “Ouch!”

James whipped round, eyes narrowed. “You just tried to appartate, didn’t you?”

Scorpius wouldn’t meet his eye from where he was perched on the edge of his bed, rubbing at his wrist.

“What were you going to do Scorpius? You don’t even know where Albus is. You’re wearing a hospital gown which shows your bare arse to the world! You’re so weak you can’t even walk! What was the plan?”

Scorpius didn’t answer. Instead, he said: “Why didn’t it work? I can apparate from anywhere in the hospital. I should have been able to.”

“Well just as well you can’t. Otherwise I’d have to explain to everyone how I lost you. How you ran away when you just woke up from almost dying.”

It was as if Scorpius hadn’t even heard him. “It doesn’t make sense. The hospital recognises my magical signature. It should have worked.”

“Ahh,” James said, crossing over to sit down next to Scorpius on the bed.  

“What?” Scorpius asked. “James? What is it?”

“Well, it could be because your magical signature might have changed a bit,” James started to explain.

“Changed a bit? What does that even mean? How?” Scorpius’s brow furrowed.

“Well… your dad sort of gave up his magic so we could do a spell to beat the curse and keep you alive?” James inwardly cursed himself for it coming out like a question. “So his magic has combined with yours. The system probably doesn’t recognise your signature any more.”

“He what?”

“He…” James was cut off as he realised it had been a rhetorical question.

“Why would he do that?”

“Because he wasn’t going to watch you die!”

Scorpius reached up to rub at his temples. “Why won’t they look after themselves?”

“Because you mean more to them, Scorpius. Losing his magic is nothing compared to what losing you would have been like. And Albus… he’s doing everything he can to keep you and Aurora safe. It’s love Scorpius.”

Scorpius let out a shuddering breath. “I really scared them, huh?”

“They were terrified.”

“But I’m okay now. I can help them.” Scorpius’s voice was trembling.

“You’re alive Scorpius, but you’re not okay. You need to rest, recover. You need to stay alive.”

Scorpius’s chest heaved with a repressed sob. James lifted his arm to curl around his shoulders, pulling him close.

“I need them to be okay,” he mumbled, sniffing and wiping tears from his face.

“Well, now you know exactly how they felt.”

Scorpius pursed his lips and nodded, head falling to rest on James’s chest.

“Can I see Aurora now? I promise I won’t try to leave again.”

“Only because you know it won’t work,” James said, squeezing his shoulder before retracting his arm and reaching for his wand.

Scorpius gave him the hint of a smile.

“Everything will be okay, Scorpius,” James said as he cast the spell.

As the shimmering light burst from the wand, James wished with his whole being that he hadn’t just lied.


	16. 16

“Where is she?”

Albus whipped round, seeing the silhouette of a figure at the edge of the shadows.

“I said to bring her. You didn’t listen to me.” Albus couldn’t see Parker’s face, but he could hear the hostility and resentment in her voice.

Albus took a step closer, trying not to let his hesitation and uneasiness show. He had no idea what to expect from this witch. The plan was simple—don’t let her know about Scorpius’s cure, get her to admit to as much as possible, and then, once there is no more he can do, the aurors will jump in to arrest her. It sounded easy, but it was far from foolproof. His dad seemed to think that she wouldn’t kill him as soon as she realised Aurora wasn’t there, not when he could be useful to her; but Albus wasn’t sure he shared his optimism. This woman was crazy and wanted her daughter back, there was no anticipating what she might do.  

“Where is she?” she repeated with a snarl.

“She’s not your daughter anymore. You have no right to know anything about her.”

At that, Parker emerged from the shadows and stepped into the light. Albus’s eyes roamed over her, looking for any outwards signs that she was evil, was more than the helpful assistant that she had presented herself to be. But she looked the same. Albus still felt guilty that he hadn’t realised the venom she was hiding underneath her skin.

“No. No—you _stole_ her. You stole her from me.” Albus watched as her expression morphed into a menacing, angry sneer. It transformed her in a heartbeat. Now this, this was someone Albus could picture casting a deadly curse on his husband.

“No, Parker.” If she was surprised at the use of her real name she didn’t show it. There was no visible reaction to the name except a small twitch of her eye. “You lost her. It wasn’t on us, it was on you.”

“Where is she?!” she bellowed, his arms flinging to the side and a cloud of dust and gravel rising and spinning around her. An act of magic meant to intimidate. Albus swallowed and forced himself not to react.

“You thought I was just going to bring her without evidence of a cure?” Albus shook his head. “No, I need proof that you will be able to save Scorpius.”

Albus wasn’t a good actor. But he only had to think of Scorpius lying on the hospital bed, pale and hardly breathing, and the desperation and anguish were easy to pull forward.

Parker smiled as she pulled out a vial, waving it tauntingly from her position. Albus took a couple of steps closer before Parker tsked and waved a finger, stopping him in his tracks. He could see the potion was a purple colour—a soft lilac. He knew this wasn’t what they had used, but it could still be a cure. He wouldn’t hold out for it though, if he had to bet on it he’d say that it was some sort of poison that would just kill Scorpius instead of saving him.

Albus rolled his eyes and scoffed, noting the way Parker’s smile fell slightly before she plastered the sneer back on.

“That’s not proof! That could be anything,” Albus exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration.

“Well, since I don’t have anyone else here that is cursed there’s no way I can prove it to you, is there?”

Albus hated the condescending tone her words took. His hands curled into fists at his side.

Parker started walking, slow steps in a circle around Albus as the vial swung in her fingers, transmitting carelessness. She continued. “So if you want to save the boy who means everything to you, then you’ll have to trust me.”

“Like my dad trusted you?” Albus spat out, not expecting the gleeful laugh the words triggered. His heart skipped a beat; he forced himself to take a deep breath.

An unsettling grin took over Parker’s face. “Your dad is a fool. You’re just like him.”

“I am nothing like him!” Albus shouted, stalking forward a few paces. Now he was closer his hand drifted to his wand, fingers curling around the rough wood.

“You’ve been saying that since you were a boy, but you don’t see how similar you are. Whether you like it or not Albus Potter, you are your father’s son. There is so much of him in you.”

Albus’s eyes narrowed. “Was it your plan all along to take the job to get close to him?”

“Not get close to him, no. But the Potters, yes. _You_ ,” she reached out a finger as if she was going to jab him in the chest, in the heart. He stumbled back a couple of steps, strengthening her smile.

When she spoke up again, there was an extra layer of… of something to her voice. Something Albus couldn’t quite identify. “I’ll admit, I was a mess when they first took her. It took me years to get to a point where I was able to find out who adopted her. And I never would have guessed that it would be a family like the Potters! Saviours of the wizarding world!”

“Malfoy-Potters,” Albus spat back.

“Oh yes. Apologies. The Malfoy-Potters.” The bitterness oozed out with every word. Albus’s gut instinct was to take another step back, to distance himself from the animosity. But he didn’t. He stood his ground.

Albus glared. Parker laughed.

“I knew I needed to be close. Knew I needed to have an in, so when the time was right I would be able to take her back. But you Albus, you have this… reputation. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get you to trust me. You and Scorpius, you keep so very isolated. So I knew I needed a different approach. Getting rid of Harry’s assistant and being there to take up the job, it was so easy. Once I was in, there was trust. I didn’t even have to work that hard. I became Avery, and when I was wearing her there was nothing your dad wouldn’t trust me to do. Even pull files of the little girl that his son adopted. That’s what tipped me off.”

Albus shouldn’t have been surprised at how much Parker was giving away to him, his Dad had told him about how she would probably want to gloat. She was proud of what she had done, and she wanted credit for it. Albus almost reached his hand up to the collar of his jacket to where the recording device was attached. A mix between muggle and wizard technology it was capturing their whole conversation and transmitting it to the aurors, to his dad. He wondered how guilty Harry was feeling, hearing all this.

Parker raised the hand that was holding her wand and used it to card through her hair. A blasé movement that struck another flash of fear into Albus. All he could do was stand there as she paced around, trying not to show how affected he really was, trying not to cry. He had to be strong. Scorpius needed him to be strong; Aurora needed him to be strong. So he let her keep talking.

“Then I started surveillance, but you’re too paranoid, too closed off and untrusting. I tripped your security spell at your house, do you remember? You came out in your slippers and you saw a fox and smiled.”

Albus did remember it. Remembered how he went back inside and told his daughter it was just a fox wanting to play, but it couldn’t stay.

“Reaching you was impossible. But, thankfully, your family is big. I followed your brother and his kids round the market one day. Staying close enough to overhear. And, eventually, they said something interesting. One of the boys talked about Aurora’s lessons, and that’s when I realised. She had started to show powers.”

Albus stumbled back a pace in shock, feeling sick at knowing James and his kids had been that close to her, had been in danger because of him.

“You just don’t understand, you foolish boy. You don’t understand how special she is, how powerful,” Parker bit out. She was getting more unhinged by the minute, and Albus didn’t think that was a good thing. Irrational people did irrational things, were more likely to lash out.

Albus knew the next question wouldn’t calm her down, but it was one he had to ask. “But why is she so powerful?”

“Because of me!” Parker yelled, and Albus ducked as a stream of blue light burst out of her wand. He wasn’t sure what spell it had been. “I went through so much pain when I was pregnant—experiments and spells that were excruciating. I was so weak and tired, but I knew I was doing it for her. Then, once she was born, I used the spells on her. Spells that I had uncovered in my family archive. Spells that were said to bring an individual power beyond imagination.”

And Albus remembered how, when they had first found her, Aurora used to flinch and cry every time magic was used on her, even when it was a healing spell. They had thought then about abuse, but Albus could never have imagined something like this. A mother torturing her baby, when she knew exactly the agony her child would feel… tears welled up in Albus’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine how evil Parker must be, to have done that, and to talk about it in such a calm, unaffected way.

He genuinely felt sick; like he could throw up any moment. He turned away.

“Do you understand now? Why I need her?” her voice had taken on desperation, as if she needed him to say he understood. “Because she is my experiment. My _successful_ experiment. I don’t know exactly what her powers are, but she’s so young, she has so much potential.”

Albus held his want out to match Parker’s position. They were almost close enough for the ends of their wands to be touching. Albus’s chest was rising and falling rapidly, harshly. A tear had managed to slip out, he swore he could see Parker’s eyes following it as it flowed down his cheek.

Albus took a deep breath, prepared himself. And then…

“Expelliarmus!” he shouted, leaping out of the way of the spell that burst from Parker’s wand at exactly the same time.

He ran as a piece of the wall shattered beside him.

“You’ll never get her back,” he screamed, turning on his heel to see Parker in the middle of the courtyard space she had chosen to have this fight. “I will not let her go back to you to go through more abuse, more pain, to be used as… used as… a weapon.”

“I don’t want her as a weapon,” Parker scoffed, wand momentarily dropping to her side. Albus’s hand twitched, aching to end this once and for all. But he needed to know. He needed to know why she wants Aurora so desperately.  

“Then why do you need her powers?” Albus asked, lowering his own wand and taking slow, careful steps forward, as if he was advancing towards a wild animal that he didn’t want to startle.

“Because powerful people can be persuasive. They can get whatever they want. I don’t want to start another war or pure blood rebellion, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about my daughter, my little girl. You want to use her. No matter what for, that’s not a life she deserves.”

“If you don’t give her to me Scorpius will die! The curse I gave to him can’t be cured in any of the usual ways. He must be getting bad now, right? Even if you’ve managed to prolong his suffering his lungs must be giving out, and it won’t be long before his heart just… stops.”

And even though Albus knew he was getting better, knew that they weren’t a whisper away from losing the purest heart he had ever known, he couldn’t stop the sob, the tears that tore out of him. It was exactly what Parker had wanted. Her grin seemed to grow, she seemed to thrive off his pain.

Despite the tears, Albus shook his head, making an effort to stand up taller, pushing his shoulders back. “I would never trust you to give us a cure. And Scorpius would rather die than see Aurora go back to you!”

“Really? He’d die for a girl that’s not even his?”

“Now _you_ don’t understand. Aurora may not have our blood but we are her parents. We have shaped her and raised her and she is who she is today because of us.”

“But she has these powers because of me! She’s my success!” Parker screamed.

“And she’s my daughter!” Albus roared, face red from exertion, chest rising and falling rapidly as he caught his breath, whole body trembling. He forced himself to take a breath and continued in a low, soft voice. “And the love a parent has for a child is stronger than anything.” In that moment, Albus thinks about his grandparents, and finally understands what they were able to do.

“Poor, poor Albus Potter. It really isn’t,” Parker sneered. “If you won’t bring her to me, then you’ll take me to her.”

Albus laughed. Did she still not get it? “Never. Not even if you tortured me.”

“Yes, I know that. That was a mistake people used in the past. You both would die for her. Well, your choice,” she said with a nonchalant shrug and she lifted her wand again. “But first, I need you to do something for me.”

It took a second for Albus to realise what she was trying to do. He felt the pressure, felt the push as the spell tried to infiltrate his brain. She was trying to imperiuse him like she did the healer in the hospital. But what she didn’t know was that Draco had taught Albus how to deflect Imperio years ago. It wouldn’t work on him.

Now it was Albus’s turn to smirk. Parker’s gleeful expression fell, and for the first time she looked frightened. Albus couldn’t help but delight in it.  

“Now I get it,” he started, “You need Aurora because you are weak. You have no power, but you’ve always craved it. You feel like you need it. And if you couldn’t have it for yourself, then she is the next best thing. Someone who you can control, someone who is just your puppet, carrying out your every wish. That’s what you wanted—not a daughter, a slave.”

“How dare you presume to know me. I could kill you right now, with just a flick of my wand.”

“But you won’t. Because you want Aurora more than you want to kill me.”

Despite Albus’s apparent bravado, his heart was thundering, his hands were shaking. If she could have controlled him then he would have been useful, but now, after the imperius failed, there wasn’t any real reason she would keep him alive. Not when there was a pool of people she could try the spell on at the hospital.

For a second, Albus’s fear grew so it completely engulfed him. A sudden, twisting terror that he wouldn’t get to see Scorpius again almost stealing all the breath from his lungs. But Parker didn’t cast another spell, didn’t do anything. Just tilted her head, as if she was thinking.

“And what about you, Albus? Why won’t you kill me?”

Albus swallowed and averted his eyes, trying to ignore the cruel laugh that escaped from Parker. She knew that he wouldn’t even try. Because that’s who she was, not him. Albus could not take a life, even one as evil and poisoned as Parker’s. He swung his gaze back round to meet her eyes, stomach turning at the rage that shimmered in them.

As he stood staring at Parker, her arm still outstretched and snarl on her face, he pictured Aurora. Aurora bundled in Scorpius’s arms, both of their heads thrown back in laughter; Scorpius holding on to her as if he never wanted to let her go. They were the reason he wouldn’t do it, couldn’t do it. He knew that if he ever watched the life drain from someone, knowing it was his spell, his wand, him that did it… he would never be the same.

At that moment a question sprung forward in his mind. A question that he needed the answer to. “Why Scorpius?” he asked. “Why did you curse Scorpius and not me?”

“Honestly, Albus, I wanted it to be you. But as I found out more about you and Scorpius, I changed my mind. Because I knew this would break you. You’re weak Albus. You’re weak because of your love. Scorpius was more unpredictable. But you… I felt like I knew you already.”

The answer wasn’t what Albus had been looking for.

He was so distracted that he missed the shout, snapping back to reality only when the green light flew past him, only an inch away from his arm. He looked up and saw the aurors, one of them with their knee digging into Parker’s back as she lay on the ground trying to thrash her way out of their grip.

Relief washed over Albus, legs giving way. His eyes fluttered closed as his body fell, and he braced himself for the impact of the cold ground. Instead, he found himself folded up into a lap, and he knew without opening his eyes that it was his Dad.

“Albus, Albus talk to me, oh Merlin.” The fear in his Dad’s voice triggered his eyes to open, his hand lifting at patting his Dad’s chin.

“I’m fine Dad. Just… overwhelmed.”

“Oh thank Merlin. I thought we hadn’t managed to throw off her aim after all and you’d been hit. Thank Merlin. Thank Merlin,” he repeated as he wrapped his arms tightly around Albus.

Albus let out a choked sob. “It should have been me, Dad.”

“No, Albus. Don’t even think that. Scorpius is going to be okay, and so are you. There’s no point in thinking about how things could have been different, trust me. That’s a sure-fire way to make it so you’re never okay again.”

Albus just cried. He sat there in his Dad’s arms and cried.

“It’s okay Albus. It’s over. You’re safe, Scorpius is safe, Aurora’s safe. You are all going to be just fine,” Harry whispered to him.

“Sir?”

Albus didn’t move an inch at the interruption, but he felt his Dad shuffle underneath him.

“We’ve had a message from the hospital.” Albus’s head snapped up, meeting the eyes and the soft smile on the auror’s face. “Scorpius is awake. He’s asking for Albus.”

Now Albus’s heart was hammering for a completely different reason as he scrambled to his feet.

“Albus?”

He turned to look at his Dad, who reached out and gently wiped away the tears from his cheeks.

“Let me take you.”

It was more of an order than a suggestion, but Albus nodded anyway, curling his hands around his Dad’s arm. He felt a quick squeeze as his Dad folded his hand over his right wrist, and then his stomach was turning as they began to apparate. His eyes squeezed closed as the familiar feeling overtook him, a small yet strong smile gracing his face at the thought of seeing Scorpius again so soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a few more chapters to go! I think I'll aim for 20, that seems like a nice, round number! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who is still reading, and for all the kudos and comments. They mean so much to me, and your support is what has kept me motivated to finish this story!


	17. 17

“Papa, you’re awake!”

The beam that Scorpius gave as he saw his daughter almost hurt his cheeks with how powerful it was.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said softly, eyes crinkling as she stood in the doorway still clutching Lily’s hand, James hovering behind them. Underneath the happiness that radiated from the three of them, Scorpius could see the exhaustion. He wondered how long it had been since any of them slept.

Scorpius’s eyes followed Aurora as she rushed over to him, her plaits bouncing, hair sticking in all directions like she had been lying with it in someone’s lap recently. Her dungarees and rainbow t-shirt were crumpled but clean. Scorpius’s heart ached as it pulsed with so much love.

Someone must have told her off for jumping on him while he had been out of it, because instead of launching herself on the bed like Scorpius had been expecting, she raced over to the side and grabbed his hand. Scorpius’s lip quivered as he looked down at Aurora’s two little hands curled around one of his.

She was almost vibrating, weight shifting from one foot to the other as she bounced, obviously having to hold herself back from climbing up on to him.

Scorpius looked over at Polly, who was watching from near the door with a soft smile.

“As long as you’re not in any pain, she can get up if she’s careful.”

“You can be careful, can’t you?” Scorpius asked.

“I can,” Aurora nodded, face turning serious.

It was the gentlest Scorpius had ever seen her be, as she avoided his legs and planted her palms on the spaces of the bed. Once she had pulled herself up she manoeuvred so she was on her knees. Then, very slowly, inch by inch, she lowered herself so she was hugging him, but making sure all of her weight was pushing into her knees and not into his body. She draped herself over his chest, but so they were just touching and nothing more. Fleeting, soft contact. But contact, all the same.

Scorpius’s arms lifted to curl round her and he burrowed his face in her hair. He didn’t realise she was crying until her little body started to shake in his hold.

“Oh, Aurora,” he whispered, hand curling around the back of her head and stroking her neck. She leaned into his touch like a cat.

It wasn’t till that moment Scorpius realised just how dire the situation must have been. James had told him, of course, that he had been close to dying. Scorpius vaguely remembered feeling panicked, thinking that Albus was going to leave him at the end. He had thought it was over, had prepared himself for death. He knew he had felt that, but then he had been unconscious. How could he have known what the others went through, how bad it had been?

 Scorpius hadn’t really understood what it had done to them all, not till now. He had focused on his own feelings—the panic for his Dad, for Albus. But now he had his daughter trembling in his arms, now he could take a moment to really think about what everyone must have gone through, his heart broke. He remembered watching his mum, on her last day, seeing her get weaker and weaker, unable to do anything to stop or save her. Knowing that the people he loved the most, the people he would go to the moon and back to see smile, had felt the same way he had… To know that they suffered in that way…

His throat closed up as the tears started to fall, and he held Aurora even tighter.

“Shhh, it’s okay darling. I’m okay.”

“You—” Aurora choked out, interrupted by a sob as she tried to catch her breath. “You’re okay?” Her voice was weak and wobbly, and Scorpius let out an unsteady breath.

Instead of answering verbally Scorpius ran his hand up and down her back.

“I’m here now.”

“They said you were going to die!” Aurora shrieked, and Scorpius noticed how Lily and James both took a step forward, ready to intervene if she began hurting him. But Scorpius gave a small shake of his head, letting them know it was okay. Aurora burrowed in further, and sure, his arm hurt a little, but it was nothing compared to the hurt in her heart that he could ease by holding her close.

“I was very sick. But you all helped me get better.”

Aurora sniffled, raising her head to look in Scorpius’s eyes.

“Grandpa Draco. He helped a lot.”

Scorpius choked up. “Yeah. Yeah, he did. He gave up a lot for me.”

Aurora nodded, and, very gently, reached out a hand to cup Scorpius’s cheek. Scorpius smiled as tears began to fall, recognising the gesture as something Albus did to provide comfort to her, and to him.

“I love you Papa. He’s going to wake up soon and he’ll be as happy as I am.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! I’m so happy that my tummy feels like spaghetti.”

Scorpius let out a shaky laugh, marvelling at this little girl. His little girl. Aurora was light and music and the twisting colours of the natural phenomenon in the night sky that she shared a name with.

She was here, with him. She was safe. They had managed to protect her. The rush of relief, of joy, that swept over Scorpius then was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

And then, a commotion in the corridor. Frantic footsteps; running.

When Albus appeared in the doorway, hair ragged and breathless, Scorpius couldn’t stop the smile that bloomed across his face.

Scorpius’s eyes raked over him, looking for any signs of damage, any blood. He looked okay though, a bit dusty, a few scrapes here and there, but whole. Alive and whole and here and crossing the room and a heartbeat away and then in his arms, where he belonged.

There wasn’t quite enough room for the three of them on the small hospital bed, but Scorpius managed to shuffle Aurora so she was curled into his side, and Albus perched on the other. He leant over so he was draped over the both of them, his face nuzzled into the nape of Scorpius neck. One of his hands was at Scorpius’s collarbone, thumb stroking.

Scorpius felt Albus’s breaths and tears as they landed on his skin.

“Is it over?” Scorpius asked, eyes closed and grip tightening as he wished with everything he had.

“It’s over. She’s been taken in.”

Scorpius blew out a relieved breath.

After a couple of heartbeats, Albus began to speak.

“Scorpius, I…” he whispered, cutting himself off with a shaky inhale. Scorpius moved his hand to the back of Albus’s neck, mirroring Albus’s soft strokes with his own.

“I know,” he whispered back as his other arm moved to wrap around Aurora as she squirmed a little.  

“You…”

“I’m sorry.”

“I can’t… you can’t leave me Scorpius. I won’t survive it. Even just having to think about a world where you weren’t by my side…”

“I’m sorry Albus.”

Albus scoffed.

“Why are you sorry. You fought, you held on. You lived.”

“That wasn’t my choice.” Scorpius’s eyes flickered over to his Dad, still lying still on the bed beside him.

When he looked back at Albus he had sat up slightly to meet his gaze.

“He just needs time to recover.”

“Funny, that’s exactly what Polly’s been saying. Are you a healer now?”

Albus rolled his eyes, the movement full of fondness.

“I don’t have the words to tell you how good it is to hear you joking again,” he said softly with a watery smile.

Scorpius smiled back, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He stole another look at his dad.

“He gave up his magic for me.”

Albus moved his arm to cup his cheek, in exactly the way Aurora had just done. This time when he smiled, Scorpius’s eyes crinkled.

“You know he never even hesitated for a second.”

“Yes. And I know you didn’t either.”

Albus ducked his head, but looked back up when Scorpius tapped his wrist.

“You’re right,” Albus declared, snaking his fingers to hold Scorpius’s hand, thumb starting to caress almost immediately. “I don’t even know what to say. I came so close to losing you.”

Scorpius shook his head before leaning up, careful not to jostle Aurora who was happy just lying there at his side. He rested his forehead against Albus’s, taking a second, two, three, to just close his eyes and share his breath.

“You don’t have to say anything, just hold me.”

And so, he did.


	18. 18

Scorpius couldn’t sleep. He was curled around Albus, chest pressed to his back and hands clutched together at his stomach. He was lying in the dark with the beeps of several machines, playing with Albus’s fingers and watching a lock of his hair flutter with each exhale of his breath.

It hadn’t taken long for Albus to fall asleep. After a bustling hour where everyone visited and smiled and told him how relived they were to see him awake, they had left Albus, Scorpius and Aurora to get some rest.

Albus had transfigured the hard hospital chairs into a small bed for Aurora, who had spent a few minutes clinging to Scorpius before she allowed herself to be moved. Then he had climbed back into bed with him and kissed him, softly and delicately. Scorpius’s hand had reached out to trail over his jaw as their kiss became salty with tears.

Scorpius had pulled Albus close, manoeuvred them so they were lying intertwined, legs woven together, skin to skin. Scorpius had wrapped himself around Albus as if that could take away some of the distress and trauma he had suffered, as if he could start threading the wounds closed just by holding him.

It hadn’t taken long for Albus to fall asleep, with their breaths aligning and the warmth of his husband at his back. Scorpius wasn’t surprised; the dark circles under Albus’s eyes and the way his hand would barely stop shaking had been enough to tell him that Albus had barely slept since this whole thing began.

And now, with the orchestra of the hospital sounds surrounding him, Scorpius was the one worrying about somebody so much he couldn’t sleep, even though he felt tired and knew his body needed the rest. But he lay there, eyes trained on his dad as he lay on the bed across the room, and his brain told him: you cannot sleep; you need to be awake in case anything happens; you might still be recovering but you are a healer; you might be able to save him…

Scorpius eyes moved from his dad’s face, to the steady heart rate trace, to Aurora every time she shuffled or let out a sound, back to his dad. James had talked him through the spell, what they had done, what had happened. Scorpius didn’t feel any different, didn’t feel any more powerful, or like some monumental part of him had changed. Even though he knew it had.  

“Dad, you have to be okay,” he whispered into the dark room.

The only reply he got was Albus shuffling in his arms. Scorpius’s fingers continued to draw patterns over his knuckles as he waited, waited for something to happen. For his dad’s eyes to blink open, for him to turn around on his bed, just anything. Anything to show he was still alive. Because even though the steady rhythm emitting from the screen told Scorpius that his dad’s heart was still beating, lungs still breathing, he needed him to wake up.   

The slight creak of the door opening seemed impossibly loud in the dark night. Scorpius’s head whipped round as fast as he could manage, on edge and panicked with the thought that someone had come for Aurora, that Albus hadn’t finished it after all.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was just Polly. Polly who looked even more exhausted than Albus had.

“When does your shift finish?” Scorpius asked her as she crossed the room to Draco, his voice soft and quiet but not quite a whisper; he knew Albus and Aurora would sleep through a conversation.

Polly glanced at her watch. “2 hours 20 minutes ago.”

Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her, but she just rolled hers in return. He knew he wasn’t one to talk about leaving a shift on time—he was more likely to stay late for a patient than he wanted to admit, even though he had been trying to do better.

“It’s you, Scorpius. You and your Dad. I couldn’t just leave,” she said, voice taking on a hint of harshness.

“You need to rest,” Scorpius pressed.

“So do you, why are you not asleep?” she scolded as her wand moved over Draco, tests running and numbers flashing.

Satisfied, Polly gave a quick nod to herself and turned to look at Scorpius, eyes following his fingers as they trailed through Albus’s hair. Her eyes softened.

“I’m worried,” Scorpius replied, the hitch to his voice not hiding anything.

“You know, you are loved so much Scorpius. So, so much. I have never seen anything like it before.”

Scorpius smiled. “I’m lucky.”

“You are. I never had that. A father who would do anything for me, be willing to give up his life for me. The closest I have to a family is Yann’s, but even then, it’s nothing like the Potters and what they feel for you.”

Scorpius didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t the first time Polly had mentioned family but it was the first time Scorpius felt like he had actually learnt something from her words.

“I’m sorry, Polly.”

Polly waved his apology away. “I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty. I’m telling you that you have these wonderful people in your life that love you with everything they have. You have Albus, and Aurora. It’s so special. You won’t be alone if…”

“If I lose my Dad,” Scorpius picked up the words that Polly was too afraid to inject into the still air. His mouth was suddenly incredibly dry.

“He’s stable. His vitals are strong,” Polly pointed out, taking a few steps forward so she was standing at the end of Scorpius and Albus’s bed.

“But he’s not waking up. Why is he not waking up?” Scorpius’s voice trembled. His hands did too, and he pulled them away from Albus’s hair to link them with his fingers instead, taking comfort from his skin and the warmth that always radiated from him.

Polly’s smile was sad. It was apologetic. It was one he had seen many times before on her and every one of his colleagues; one he had worn himself.

“We don’t know.” The blow didn’t lose any strength because he was expecting it. It still knocked the breath from his lungs and he still folded into himself, fracturing from the strike.

“There’s nothing obvious we can see that is a reason for him to still be unconscious. There is no brain bleeding, or swelling, or head trauma. But Scorpius, the spell we did… there’s no telling what losing your magic could do to a person. He might just need time.”

“How much time Polly?” How much time before they lost hope? Scorpius had held on to hope with his mum, had kept clinging to it until she had taken her last breath. And even then he had struggled with it, fought to hold on as it battled to fly from his grasp. Hope could be a welcoming embrace or a slowly tightening noose.  

“I wish I had more answers for you,” Polly said with a small squeeze to his ankle.

Scorpius turned his head away from her pitying gaze and burrowed it into Albus’s hair, the tears hidden by the unruly locks.

“I’ll leave you to get some sleep. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Scorpius didn’t even have the energy to argue and tell her to go home and get some proper sleep instead of just stealing a few hours in an on-call room.

He heard her footsteps and the door opening and closing, and once again was left with the sound of his own thoughts.

Despite all advice to stay in bed, Scorpius was a healer and he knew how his own body felt thank you very much, he untangled himself from Albus and sat up. He felt only a second of dizziness as he swung his legs round, so he slowly pressed his feet down onto the cold floor and stood up.

Moving slowly and using the rails around the bed to hold on to, Scorpius shuffled across the room until he was by his dad’s bedside. It was different, seeing him from this close. Scorpius was surprised by how… fine he looked. He wasn’t any paler than normal, had no visible signs of illness of injury. It looked as if he was just sleeping.

Scorpius was too old to climb onto the bed with him, like he used to do with his mum, but he leant over and rested his head over Draco’s chest. His tears fell even as he heard the steady thumping of his heart beneath his ear. He lay like that for a while, unsure how long exactly, almost lulled into sleep by the steady beat. When he did sit up he lifted his hand to wipe the tears from his cheeks and under his eyes. Then he reached out and pulled a stray strand of Draco’s long blond hair out of his face, tucking it behind his ear.

“You need to wake up Dad,” he said, aiming for demanding but falling decidedly short on that front.

He felt a twitch at his side and snapped up to sitting, eyes widening and staring his dad’s hand that now lay limply on the bed.

Scorpius curled his fingers around it. “Dad, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand,” Scorpius choked out, heart hammering with anticipation.

He waited.

And waited.

The heart monitor beeped, his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, but his fingers did not squeeze.

“Please, Dad,” Scorpius basically begged. “Please, let me know you can hear me.”

Scorpius waited a heartbeat, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.. before he sighed and pulled his hand away.

He turned his back on his dad and started the shuffle back to Albus and the bed, so he missed the way one of Draco’s fingers jerked. He missed the way Draco’s head shifted to the right before straightening again.

By the time Scorpius was back in bed and cuddled to Albus, Draco was still once again. Scorpius sighed, burrowed into Albus, and let himself drift off into an uneasy sleep.

By the time Scorpius’s breaths had evened out and synced with Albus’s, Draco was shuffling on the bed, an almost imperceptible groan escaping his lips.

The heart rate monitor’s beeping became more rapid.

And in the moment between one heartbeat and the next, Draco woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you are all staying safe! There will be two more chapters after this, thank you to everyone who is still reading :)


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